The Los Angeles Lakers saw their seven-game win streak snapped on Monday, as the Phoenix Suns blew them out 125-108 at Crypto.com Arena. It was an extremely frustrating night for the Lakers, and LeBron James appeared to get quite annoyed with Rui Hachimura at one point in the third quarter.
James kept asking for a pass as Hachimura brought the ball up the court, but the Japanese forward played it safe and handed it off to Austin Reaves instead. Reaves then quickly tried to get it to the 40-year-old, but it might have been a bit too late by then. James ended up committing an offensive foul on the play and let Hachimura know he wasn’t happy.
LeBron rips Rui a new one for not being able to pass to save his lifepic.twitter.com/GXRt0wZlDv
— Lakers Daily (@LakersDailyCom) December 2, 2025
This wasn’t the first time that we had seen James get frustrated with Hachimura this season. The 21-time All-Star notably appeared to be unhappy with his teammate’s play on the defensive end against the Los Angeles Clippers on Nov. 25. The Lakers at least ended up winning 135-118 that night, but they were the ones who got hammered here.
James was far from his best against the Suns, recording 10 points (3-10 FG) and three rebounds in 31 minutes. He stayed in the game in the fourth quarter to ensure his double-digit scoring streak wasn’t snapped, which lets you know just how bad of a night it was for him.
James didn’t even have the excuse that many of his teammates could have for their performances against the Suns. This was the second night of a back-to-back, but he didn’t play in the 133-121 win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Sunday. James sat out against the Pelicans due to left foot injury management, and you’d have imagined he would be the one giving the rest of the team a bit of a boost, but it wasn’t to be.
As for Hachimura, he went scoreless (0-1 FG) and grabbed just one rebound. It was the first time this season that the 27-year-old failed to score a single point in a game.
There has been a lot to like about Hachimura’s play for the Lakers in 2025-26, like his excellent three-point shooting (46.1%), but he appears to have lapses on the offensive end somewhat regularly. A compilation recently went viral of the times that he just forgot the play during games.
Hachimura has been with the Lakers for nearly three years now and has been a regular starter under head coach JJ Redick since he was hired in 2024. You’d expect him to know the playbook like the back of his hand, but it doesn’t look like he does. Still, the positives seem to outweigh the negatives, which include his defense, in Redick’s mind, given that he is the only role player who has been a consistent starter under him.
Getting back to this game, the Lakers fell to 15-5 with the loss. We’ll see them in action next against the high-flying Toronto Raptors at Scotiabank Arena on Thursday at 7:30 PM ET, and Redick will be expecting a strong response in that one.
