Rui Hachimura has been a full-time starter for the Los Angeles Lakers under head coach JJ Redick, but insider Jovan Buha thinks it’s time for a change. The Lakers suffered their fifth loss of the season on Monday, with the Phoenix Suns blowing them out 125-108 at Crypto.com Arena, and Buha states there is a clear trend in all of these losses.
“If we look at the commonalities between the Warriors loss, the Blazers loss, the Hawks loss, the Thunder loss, and tonight’s loss against the Suns, the first thing that comes to my mind is speed and athleticism,” Buha said. “There’s a real disparity between the Lakers and those teams in each of those matchups.
“All of those teams pressured the Lakers to some extent in terms of full-court pressure and even half-court pressure,” Buha continued. “And in all of the losses, they’ve struggled to some degree with their shooting, making teams pay for playing off of certain guys or playing so aggressively. They’ve also struggled with turnovers.
“And those teams have been able to speed up their processing, their decision-making, and it has led to an array of turnovers for LA,” Buha added. “When they are facing a team that is clearly more athletic than them and faster than them at multiple positions and excels at pressuring the ball and maybe doubling and then veering back and just kind of mucking up the game with their defensive style, the Lakers have struggled.”
The Lakers are definitely not the most athletic team around. While that hurts them on defense, Buha thinks it has caused problems on offense as well. The only way to fix that problem for good would be a trade, but he believes benching Hachimura can prove to be a short-term fix.
“In the short term, I think it starts with breaking up the Ayton-LeBron-Rui frontcourt combo (moving Rui to the bench). LA has a 128.3 defensive rating and -5.6 net rating with those three on the floor (w/ three of their four opponents being lottery teams). Longer term, a trade.”
The 13-9 Suns were the first good team that the Lakers had faced with LeBron James in the lineup, along with Hachimura and Deandre Ayton. The results weren’t great, especially on the defensive end.
The Suns shot 52-92 (56.5%) from the field and 17-39 (43.6%) from beyond the arc. This was by no means an aberration, either in this stretch with James. The Lakers had allowed the Utah Jazz to shoot 52.2% from the field on Nov. 18. Then, a week later, the Los Angeles Clippers were at 51.9% against them on Nov. 25.
An adjustment to the lineup might well be needed, and Ayton and James are not getting benched. That leaves Hachimura as the obvious option here. This is not to say he hasn’t played well.
Hachimura is averaging 14.0 points, 3.6 rebounds, 0.9 assists, 0.5 steals, and 0.2 blocks per game in 2025-26. The 27-year-old has been the Lakers’ best sniper by far, as he is shooting 46.1% from beyond the arc.
Hachimura surprisingly only shot the ball once against the Suns on Monday. He was critical of his teammates after the game and made it clear they have to trust each other and move the ball if they are to win games.
The 15-5 Lakers take on the 15-7 Toronto Raptors next at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday at 7:30 PM ET. It’s unlikely we see any lineup change in that one, but if the team struggles again, then Redick might have to start considering an adjustment.
