Lakers forward Rui Hachimura will take part in the 2024 Paris Olympics after being named to the Japan men’s basketball roster.
LeBron James and Anthony Davis will not be the only Lakers taking part in the 2024 Paris Olympics this summer. Rui Hachimura has elected to play for Japan as the team’s roster was announced early Monday morning.
This will be the second Olympics for Rui, having played in the 2020 games in Tokyo.
第33回オリンピック競技大会 (2024/パリ) へ向けた 5人制バスケットボール男子日本代表チーム12名を発表
— バスケットボール日本代表 (@JAPAN_JBA) July 8, 2024
詳しくは：https://t.co/r4aJ2OErpi@TeamJapan#AkatsukiJapan #日本一丸 #TEAMJAPAN #Paris2024#がんばれニッポン #パリ2024 pic.twitter.com/faVa6kjRHo
While there was no debate as to whether he would be selected to the team, obviously, there was some debate as to whether he’d elect to play. Last year for the FIBA World Cup, Hachimura was called up but withdrew after the Lakers’ deep playoff run.
At the last Olympics, Japan lost all three games by a combined 66 points in group play. Rui, however, was the leading scorer in the first two games, including scoring 34 points against Slovenia.
This year, Japan will be in the same group as France, Germany and Brazil, so it’s unlikely their fate will be all that much better. That being said, two of the three third-place teams in the respective groups will advance, so there’s a chance for Japan to move out of the preliminary round and even potentially face Team USA.
It’ll certainly be a different dynamic than LeBron James and Anthony Davis with Team USA. On the Japan roster, Rui and Yuta Watanabe are the only players who played/played in the NBA as rotation players. Watanabe announced his retirement from the NBA this year and is returning to Japan to play basketball professionally, leaving Rui as the lone player in the NBA.
As a result, then, he’ll be the primary focus of opposing teams, which will be a much different dynamic than his role on the Lakers. It’ll be interesting to see how he adapts his game to Olympics play.
It’ll also be interesting to see how the improvements he’s made with the Lakers over the last year-and-a-half help him with Japan. In all, though, it’s just cool to see Rui representing Japan and his home country on the biggest stage once again.
You can follow Jacob on Twitter at @JacobRude.
