The Los Angeles Lakers have a few new faces this season but apparently only one new starter.
Lakers forward Rui Hachimura is expected to be the team’s fifth starter for the 2025-26 campaign, Anthony Irwin of ClutchPoints reported on Wednesday. He will be rounding out the Lakers’ starting lineup along with LeBron James, Luka Doncic, Austin Reaves, and newcomer Deandre Ayton.
Irwin notes that new Lakers guard Marcus Smart was another option for the fifth starting spot. However, Hachimura has since emerged as the heavy favorite given both health (Smart is currently sidelined to start training camp with Achilles tendinopathy) and Hachimura’s continuity with the other Lakers’ starters.
The 27-year-old Hachimura is entering his fourth season with the Lakers. He started in 57 of his 59 appearances for the Lakers last season, averaging 13.1 points and 5.0 rebounds per game.
Hachimura does give up a good amount defensively compared to the former Defensive Player of the Year Smart. But he also gives the Lakers more size at 6-foot-8 as well as a more reliable three-point shot (41.3 percent from deep last season compared to Smart’s 34.8 percent).
Overall, the Lakers are coming off a 2024-25 campaign in which they won 50 games and secured a top-three seed in a brutally difficult Western Conference. But they then lost to the lower-seeded Minnesota Timberwolves in an embarrassing five-game upset.
Meanwhile, Hachimura has to be pleased with his opportunity here. The Lakers notably stiffed him on an extension this offseason, meaning that Hachimura, who is thus on an $18.3 million expiring deal this season, can go out and prove himself in a contract year.
