Lakers News: Insider Pessimistic About Rui Hachimura's Free Agent Value
Entering this summer, the Los Angeles Lakers have a ton of questions that they need answered. What will they do with all their free agents but namely Austin Reaves, Rui Hachimura and others? The team has said that they wish to bring back most of the core that just went to the Western Conference Finals but that dream may not be a reality depending on the price.
As for Hachimura, many believe that the Lakers will indeed do what they can to bring him back. But one insider isn't too high on him and his value and thinks LA can get him for cheap.
Longtime NBA insider John Hollinger of The Athletic seems to think that Hachimura and his value are low. He was ranked number 14 on a list of free agent power forwards, behind some questionable others. Here is some of his thinking:
"This feels low after a playoff run where he posted a 16.0 PER on 66.8 percent true shooting, but Hachimura had a fairly meh regular season in both Washington and L.A., landing at 31.9 percent from 3 (in a much bigger sample!) and still forcing things too often offensively"
Hollinger lists Hachimura's valuation, based on his own patented "BORD$" calculus, at just $4.9 million, which is extremely low. But to his credit, he does point out that that qualifying offer that Hachimura will receive due to his restricted free agency is $7.7 million. My guess is that Hollinger see Hachimura as more of a depth piece rather than key player like Los Angeles does. His actual free agent sticker tag will be astronomically more than either number.
Hachimura seems to be in line to get at least $15 million a season and the Lakers would love to bring him back at that number. Others have said that the team will likely bring him back up to around $20 million before letting him walk.
Now, if the team can get him for the $5 million that Hachimura is valued by Hollinger at then they would be jumping for joy. But he outplayed that and was a very valuable member to their team down the stretch.
Hachimura will likely stay with the Lakers next season and they will be better off for it.
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