Lakers News: Insider Projects Free Agent Price For Playoff Standout Rui Hachimura
In a new piece, Eric Pincus of Bleacher Report takes stock of the free agent wing market this summer. Pincus notes that, because Hachimura is a restricted free agent, rival clubs have to wait several days after the start of free agency to tender him an offer sheet, which LA can then wait to match. This is a big risk, as most big signings are completed in the early days of free agency.
Pincus believes that, among teams with cap space, the rebuilding San Antonio Spurs might be open to taking a risk on adding a restricted free agent, given that they have oodles of cap room and needs across the board.
Per Pincus, Hachimura is set to earn something in the range of $13-16 million annually. The player he's basically replacing in LA, 2020 champ Kyle Kuzma (now with Hachimura's old team, the Washington Wizards), was inked to a three-year, $13 million deal by LA team president and GM Rob Pelinka in the summer of 2020.
Granted, Hachimura is not yet a better player than Kuzma was at the time he was re-signed, but given his value on offense to LA in this postseason, the team can ill afford to let him walk for nothing this summer.
Hachimura is averaging 13.3 points on .583/.523/.857 shooting splits through seven playoff games with Los Angeles thus far, plus 4.1 rebounds and 0.7 steals.
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