JJ Redick removed Rui Hachimura from the Lakers’ injury report for tonight, headed into the 112-124 loss against the Kings in Sacramento. Coming off a right calf strain that kept him sidelined over seven games, Rui Hachimura was expecting to play tonight.
But in a last-minute decision by the Lakers’ coaching staff, they decided not to play him. Following the loss, their head coach, Redick, spoke to the media and explained why his staff took this call at the last minute.
“A lot,” said Redick initially when asked what went into deciding Hachimura won’t play tonight.
“He was only available for one game,” Redick further explained as the Lakers face the Hawks tomorrow night. “And we didn’t know that until this morning. He’ll be on a severe minutes restriction, so it made more sense to play him tomorrow.”
Redick clarified that his coaching staff didn’t mention this information earlier because they found out about it from the medical staff this morning. And by that time, they had already submitted the injury report that Hachimura would be playing.
Thus, the last-minute decision was not reflected in the pre-game injury report. But Hachimura will be returning to action on a minutes restriction tomorrow night at home.
Hachimura last played when the Lakers beat the Kings 125-101 in December, where he had 12 points, four rebounds, one assist, and two steals while shooting 5-10 from the field (50.0%) and 2-4 from beyond the arc (50.0%).
He is currently averaging 12.7 points, 3.8 rebounds, and 0.9 assists while shooting 44.5% from the three-point line. But he is only a low-volume shooter currently, attempting only 4.1 three-point shots per game on average.
The Lakers need Hachimura’s shooting severely, and the need was reflected tonight as the team went 8-36 from beyond the arc (22.2%). Even Redick highlighted the team’s need to make shots that simply did not go down tonight.
“Literally, we can’t make a shot. First of all, they’re right there with us as one of the worst shooting teams in the league. They’re tied with Houston for the highest anyone has shot all season.”
“We were 28th before tonight in three-point percentage; we’ll be 29th or 30th after tonight,” added an unhappy Redick. “This has been the theme, but we’ve just got to keep on shooting, I guess.”
The Lakers fell to 23-14 and are on their second three-game losing streak of the season. They will look to snap that tomorrow night against the Hawks at the Crypto.com Arena.
Meanwhile, the Kings improved to 10-30 for the season following back-to-back wins against the Rockets and the Lakers. They will host the Knicks on Wednesday night for the third of their seven-game home stint.
