The Los Angeles Lakers announced Friday that Rui Hachimura will miss at least the next week of play as he recovers from a procedure to repair a nasal fracture suffered in his team's hard-fought loss to the Dallas Mavericks on Wednesday night at Crypto.com Arena.
“Rui Hachimura underwent a procedure today to repair a nasal fracture that occurred during the Lakers vs. Mavericks game on Nov. 22, per the team. Hachimura will be reevaluated in approximately one week,” Jovan Buha of The Athletic wrote on Twitter.
Hachimura played 26 minutes off the bench against Dallas, finishing with nine points and three rebounds on 4-of-11 shooting. He left for good with 8:11 in the fourth quarter, getting replaced in the lineup by Anthony Davis. It's unclear when Hachimura suffered the injury.
Playing his first full season in Los Angeles after arriving shortly before last year's trade deadline from the Washington Wizards, Hachimura is averaging 11.8 points and 3.8 rebounds in 23.3 minutes per game off the bench while shooting career-highs of 50.5% overall and 42.9% from beyond the arc. He signed a three-year, $51 million deal with the Lakers in free agency last summer after playing a pivotal role on the team's underdog run to the 2022 Western Conference Finals.
The Lakers' path without Rui Hachimura
Though LeBron James and Anthony Davis have fought through nagging maladies to miss just two games between them a month into the regular season, Los Angeles' supporting cast been snake bitten by injury since 2023-24 tipped off.
Defensive difference-maker Jarred Vanderbilt has yet to play due to bursitis in his heel, key free agency addition Gabe Vincent hasn't taken the floor since late October with left knee effusion and breakout role player Cam Reddish watched the loss to Luka Doncic and the Mavs from the bench with a groin injury. Hachimura missed four games early this season after suffering a concussion, too. Reddish is questionable to play in Saturday's game against the Cleveland Cavaliers, but Vanderbilt has already been ruled out as he continues progressing toward his debut and Vincent is set to be sidelined at least into the first week of December.
Hachimura will be sidelined for the duration of Los Angeles' tough four-game road trip, which begins on Saturday in Cleveland before moving to the City of Brotherly Love for a clash with the Philadelphia 76ers on Monday. The Lakers finish the trip with a back-to-back that begins Wednesday against the lowly Detroit Pistons and surging Oklahoma City Thunder. Hachimura's next chance to play appears to be the Lakers' home tilt with the Houston Rockets on December 2nd—their last game before the in-season tournament quarterfinals tipoff on December 4th in Las Vegas.
Los Angeles, the undefeated of winner of West Group A, has already booked a ticket to Sin City, but doesn't yet know when or who it will as the knockout stage begins. Maybe Hachimura returns against the Rockets, assuring his availability going forward. If he's still out for the Lakers' next home game, though, it would obviously be beneficial for his chances of playing in the in-season tournament quarterfinals for them to play on December 5th rather than 24 hours earlier.
Expect Christian Wood and Jaxson Hayes to see more time while Hachimura recovers, especially prior to Vanderbilt taking the floor. Max Christie, who started in place of Reddish versus Dallas, could get additional playing time as a result of Hachimura's absence when Darvin Ham wants to play smaller.
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