Wake up fellas: NBA Trade Season™ has officially begun.
On Monday, the Washington Wizards agreed to send forward Rui Hachimura to the Los Angeles Lakers in exchange for guard Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks.
Hachimura’s professional career began in 2019, when the Washington Wizards made him the first Japanese-born player to be drafted to the NBA. The former ninth-overall-pick has put up modest numbers, with career averages of 13 points, five rebounds and 48% shooting from the field.
Despite those numbers, he’s the perfect player for his new team.
The Lakers unequivocally need spacing. Their collective 34% three-point shooting percentage ranks 26th in the league. Hachimura is just one season removed from shooting an amazing 45% from deep. While that percentage has decreased this season, it’s not necessarily his fault. Most of his touches this year have come from plays run by mediocre offensive initiators like Delon Wright and Monte Morris. He’s certain to get plenty of high-quality looks playing alongside LeBron James — one of the greatest playmakers of all time.
Hachimura is also skilled at creating shots from mid-range, shooting 52% from that area in his career. A lot of those shots come from isolation attempts, where he shoots 50% and averages 1.17 points per possession — placing him in the 92nd percentile among NBA players. That’s higher than other talented shot creators like Jalen Brunson and Luka Doncic.
Adding an efficient creator like Hachimura is a huge boost for a Lakers squad averaging 0.89 points per possession despite ranking fourth in isolation frequency. Hachimura will prove even more impactful in the mid-range where the Lakers shoot a pitiful 38%. He cleans up several scoring struggles Los Angeles has and can help reignite the Lakers’ reputation as one of the league’s most feared offenses.
From a roster standpoint, you could certainly do worse than a frontcourt combination of James, Hachimura and Anthony Davis. When the James-Davis era comes to an end, the 24-year-old Hachimura can still be a vital piece in this Laker offense. It’s clear Los Angeles views him as a player who still has room to grow and will give him ample opportunity to do so.
The Wizards apparently don’t share that same optimism. Nunn, although a solid player in his own right, is a very meager return for a player as talented as Hachimura. I understand why they traded him: Washington has a surplus of young wings, and Hachimura doesn’t have an elite skill to build around like Deni Avdija’s defense or Corey Kispert’s shooting.
Hachimura was drafted to be a future star for the Wizards. Not a future Laker. Something clearly went wrong between 2019 and now. It speaks to a massive problem with his former team that I don’t hear a lot of people talk about.
Many of the teams widely considered to be bad at scouting young talent have struck gold at least once in recent memory. The Charlotte Hornets are building something special around LaMelo Ball. The Minnesota Timberwolves have both Karl-Anthony Towns and Anthony Edwards. The Sacramento Kings have erased the sins of Jimmer Fredette and Marvin Bagley III by drafting De’Aaron Fox and Tyrese Haliburton — before trading the latter away a season later.
But who can the Wizards claim to be their homegrown hero? Which player drafted in the last 10 years can serve as proof that Washington can draft efficiently in today’s game? Otto Porter Jr.? Kelly Oubre Jr.? Troy Brown Jr.? Avdija, Kispert or Hachimura?
Do you see a pattern here?
I am of the opinion that no team in the past decade has less to show for their draft selections than the Wizards. However, this problem is not as simple as purely making poor draft decisions. Many of the players they selected were once highly-touted prospects, but the Wizards failed to properly develop their draftees. Lack of opportunity, poor roster building and shoving players into roles that didn’t fit proves Washington’s incompetence in managing a roster.
Porter was considered a potential 3-and-D star yet became nothing more than a solid role player. Oubre had sky-high upside due to his athleticism and playmaking skills but struggled to average above 15 points until being traded to Phoenix in 2018. Avdija’s defense might have been the only thing keeping him in the rotation before this trade despite there being serious conversations about him being a top-five pick leading up to the 2020 NBA Draft.
The door is not yet closed on rookie Johnny Davis. Davis was a talented shot creator and two-way threat at the University of Wisconsin-Madison, but hands are already on the doorknob now that he’s only shooting 32% from the field for the Capital City Go-Go, Washington’s G-League Affiliate.
It would be one thing if a few of those prospects failed to live up to expectations. After all, fool me once, shame on you. But when it’s every single prospect, it speaks to the organization’s failure to build through the draft. Washington had its chances to turn each player into a promising star. Most of those draft picks are now gone, and Hachimura is just the latest departure in a long line of failed draft picks.
To the Lakers, congratulations! You got yourselves a player that fills several of your holes and fits perfectly in your roster. As for Washington, Nunn and three second-round picks are not going to solve the serious problems within the organization.
