The Los Angeles Lakers made it four wins in five by taking down the Chicago Bulls 129-118 at the United Center on Monday. The mood surrounding this Lakers team has shifted after a difficult start to 2026, and Rui Hachimura praised the coaching staff postgame for telling LeBron James and Luka Doncic to share the ball more.
“I want to give credit to our coaches, especially JJ [Redick] and everybody,” Hachimura said, via Spectrum SportsNet. “They talked to… LeBron, Luka, those guys. They always have the ball. They told them on the team meeting that they need to be looking for their teammates. That’s what they’ve been doing. They took it in a good way… And we’re winning.
“Everybody get touches, and everybody share the ball,” Hachimura added. “It’s fun. That’s how basketball should be. So, I think we got to keep doing it, and yeah, we going to be fine.”
We had previously seen Lakers head coach JJ Redick urge Doncic to trust the pass after Thursday’s loss to the Los Angeles Clippers. Redick wanted more connectivity on offense and made it clear that the Slovenian has to pass the ball when he’s playing in a crowd.
To Doncic’s credit, he has been doing that. The 26-year-old did take 25 shots against the Bulls, but had 12 assists to go with it.
There is often talk nowadays about how coaches can’t really say anything to their superstars because they’re worried about losing their jobs. Redick clearly doesn’t fall into that category, and the fact that Doncic and James listened indicates he has their respect as well.
Hachimura is perhaps the one who has benefited the most from the change in approach. The 27-year-old put up 23 points (9-11 FG), two rebounds, one assist, one steal, and one block against the Bulls.
Hachimura recorded 17 points against the Dallas Mavericks on Saturday and is enjoying life on the court a lot more than he did at points earlier in the season. The one time that stands out is when he took only one shot in a 125-108 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Dec. 1, 2025. Hachimura made it crystal clear after that game that the Lakers won’t win if they played in this manner.
“I don’t remember when I had the ball this whole game,” Hachimura said. “So, I mean, that’s happened. Playing with these guys, I signed up for that. I understand it. But with this, I think the whole team, and everyone knows, understands, that’s not how we’re gonna win.
“Those games that we’ve been winning, we’ve been passing to each other, we’ve been trusting each other, we play for each other, and then we winning these games,” Hachimura continued. “Yeah, it’s a tough one for me, but it is what it is. It’s one of those games I gotta just scratch out and play the next game.”
Moving the ball and trusting your teammates is indeed the way to go. The more we see of that from the Lakers, the better. They improved to 28-17 with this win over the Bulls and are fifth in the West.
The Lakers will take on the Cleveland Cavaliers next at Rocket Arena on Wednesday at 7 PM ET.
