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USA Today Sports Media Group
USA Today Sports Media Group
Sport
Robert Marvi

Rui Hachimura has been working closely with LeBron James this summer

The Los Angeles Lakers started their miraculous turnaround last season when they traded Kendrick Nunn and three future second-round draft picks to the Washington Wizards for forward Rui Hachimura. Hachimura had been floundering on the bench behind Kyle Kuzma, and he would get more of an opportunity to shine in L.A.

He proved the type of supplementary scoring option the team needed alongside LeBron James and Anthony Davis, especially during the playoffs when he had a number of big games.

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At age 25, Hachimura still has plenty of room for improvement. During a media session on Thursday, Lakers general manager Rob Pelinka and head coach Darvin Ham detailed how the forward has been working with LeBron James during the offseason.

What made his play even more impressive, as Ham mentioned, was some stretches of very effective defense he played against bona fide stars such as Nikola Jokic and Karl-Anthony Towns.

The Japan native was used primarily off the bench last season, but there is a real chance he will be promoted to L.A.’s starting lineup this season alongside James, Anthony Davis, D’Angelo Russell and Austin Reaves.

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