The Los Angeles Lakers have met an agreement with Rui Hachimura, a restricted free agent this offseason, on a three-year, 51 million dollar contract, per ESPN’s Dave McMenamin.
Not only that, Los Angeles also agreed with former Heat guard, Gabe Vincent, on a three-year, 33 million dollar deal, adding a decent three-point shooter within the lineup.
Hachimura is one of the key players that were responsible in the team’s late surge in the 2022-23 regular season. His return in the upcoming season aligns with the Lakers vice president of basketall operations and general manager Rob Pelinka, who shared that the intention at the start of the offseason is to “keep our core of young guys together” as the franchise builds up the lineup for 2023-24 and the seasons to follow.
The American-Japanese Laker was acquired back in late January in a trade that included Kendrick Nunn that was on an expiring contract, and three future second-round picks.
He was already superb in his appearances as a Laker during the regular season, but he was more prominent in the playoffs. The six-foot-eight forward tallied 12 points to help his squad defeat the Timberwolves in their play-in tournament clash. In addition, Hachimura also recorded 29 big points in their first game in the first round against Memphis.
As for Vincent, who was undrafted from UC Santa Barbara, became one of the most important pieces for the Miami Heat in their stellar run from the No. 8 seed to the NBA Finals.
Vincent averaged 9.4 points per game during the regular season, but stepped up during the postseason and produced some big numbers for Miami. The guard filled in the shoes of Tyler Herro when he broke his hand in the first matchup of the first round. Vincent had five 20-point outputs in the playoffs, including at least one in every round.
With Vincent’s addition to the roster, the Lakers could now space the floor more with his three-point shooting prowess.