Lakers forward Rui Hachimura has decided not play for Japan in this year’s World Cup, according to a press release from Japan Basketball. Hachimura apologized to fans in his home country and called it a “very difficult decision,” but explained that he wants to focus on resolving his contract situation and preparing for the coming NBA season after the Lakers made a deep playoff run this spring.
Hachimura will be a restricted free agent later this week, assuming the Lakers issue him a qualifying offer, which is expected. Although the 25-year-old will have the ability to sign an offer sheet with a rival suitor, reporting in recent weeks has indicated that Los Angeles fully intends to bring him back, either by matching an offer sheet or by directly negotiating a new deal with him.
Here’s more from around the Western Conference:
- The Kings have discussed a possible contract extension with Harrison Barnes within the last few weeks, a league source tells James Ham of The Kings Beat. However, those conversations “went quiet,” according to Ham. Barnes remains extension-eligible until June 30 before officially becoming a free agent.
- Heading into last Thursday’s draft, there was speculation that the Mavericks would trade their No. 10 overall pick for a veteran. Instead, they ended up with a pair of first-rounders at No. 12 and No. 24, which they used on Dereck Lively and Olivier-Maxence Prosper. They also swapped out Davis Bertans for Richaun Holmes as part of their draft-night dealings. “We feel like we killed the draft,” GM Nico Harrison said, according to Tim Cato of The Athletic, who takes a closer look at how Thursday night’s moves set up the team for the rest of the offseason.
- International reporting suggests that the Grizzlies are attempting to hire former NBA player and FC Barcelona coach Sarunas Jasikevicius as an assistant. According to Home of Glory (Twitter link; hat tip to Sportando), Memphis offered Jasikevicius a three-year deal worth an estimated $6MM.
I love Jasikevicius & MSmart as the big dogs to teach Ja how to be a leader at the pg position. 2 of the best at that in the world rn tbh. Both those guys will be NBA coaches in the next 5yrs or so
Have you followed his work? Jasikevicius has been a terrible coach at Barcelona…(in my opinion…)..J.Fernandez assistant to the KINGS, that guy is a basketball genius…I’m Spanish by the way
I guess they need strong characters to pull Ja’s head in…
Guess we’ll see if they are the right choices…
Sacramento should go after Jerami Grant aggressively. If they strike out with him then go for whoever is willing to take 1yr of guaranteed $ bw HBarnes/Crowder/Oubre
Kings need defense and a center not more wings. They can score so get taller and better defense.
To be utterly fair, Grant is a good defender, especially when he’s not the primary offensive option. I could see him working out well in Sacramento. But you’re right, they need a good defensive Center who can spell Sabonis.
Grant then Kuzma if not
Barnes is guy I assumed would be an automatic re-up in SAC. This report says nothing, although it implies that there’s a hiccup in negotiations. Anyway, if Barnes is truly available, then I think there would be significant demand in a real FA market. In the one that’s about to start, probably not. He may head back to SAC by default.
Barnes is expendable. He contributed nothing in the playoffs. I’d rather them get Kuzma.
I think Barnes is a better 2 way player (or historically has been), and still has 3/4 skills (with Kuzma basically a one position 4). But Kuzma is younger and better fits their uptempo style; so it might be a good trade off.
With the cap space they have (over 35 mm), they can do multiple things. Including redo-ing Sabonis’ deal now, before he becomes a FA. But not everything.