Locked On Lakers - Daily Podcast On The Los Angeles Lakers - Is "Playoff Rui" Changing How the Lakers Have to Approach Free Agency?

Episode Date: May 8, 2026

When analysts note the big plans for LA's upcoming offseason, it's often in the context of opening up large amounts of cap space for Rob Pelinka and Co. to fill with a host of players that complement Luka Dončić. When people talk about maximizing the amount of money available, it means chucking virtually everything that can be tossed overboard. That's all the expiring contracts, and maybe some dead weight on the roster.  Of course, every player that they cut ties with must be replaced in one way or another. The problem becomes figuring out whether the players available are better than the guys in house. Not so tough with stars, but role players? That's tricky.  Take Rui Hachimura. For the last three seasons, he's been solidly above 40 percent from 3-point range. In the playoffs, he consistently elevates his shooting, to the point he's got the best 3-point percentage in NBA postseason history. Rui also has a nifty, and useful, midrange game, and some athleticism that has benefitted LA. Of course, Rui also is a lousy rebounder, and dishes about eight assists a year. His defense is improving, but will never be confused for some DPOY candidate out there.  He makes about $19 million, and is probably in line to make somewhere between $15-20 a year going forward. Is he worth keeping? Would the Lakers do better on the market? Could they replace Rui's shooting with a player that fits a little better with the roster they envision building around Luka?  Tough questions, for sure.    HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky    Everydayer ClubIf you never miss an episode, it’s time to make it official. Join the Locked On Everydayer Club and get ad-free audio, access to our members-only Discord, and more — all built for our most loyal fans. Click here to learn more and join your team’s community: https://lockedonpodcasts.com/everydayerclub   Support Us By Supporting Our Sponsors! 5-Hour ENERGY Get candy-flavored chaos with Fruity Rainbow 5-hour ENERGY®️ Shots - available online at https://5hourENERGY.com or Amazon   KALSHI For a limited time, download the Kalshi app and use code LOCKEDON to get ten dollars when you trade ten. Kalshi. Trade on anything.   DoorDashFrom tipoff to overtime, stay in your bag and order on DoorDash.Get snacks, drinks, gear — whatever gets you through the season — delivered right to your door.DoorDash. In your bag all season long.   RedditReddit is where the real fans hang out. Download the Reddit app and dive into your favorite team for hot takes, fresh memes, and the group chat that never sleeps. QuoMake this the year where no opportunity - and no cutsomer - slips away.Try Quo for free plus get 20% off your first 6 months when you go to http://Quo.com/lockedonnba. Betterhelp This episode is sponsored by BetterHelp.Sign up and get 10% off at https://BetterHelp.com/LOCKEDONNBA. Rugiet Get 15% off your treatment → https://rugiet.com/lockedonnhl Rugiet. Performance medicine for men. PrizePicksDownload the PrizePicks app today and use codeLOCKEDONNFL to get $50 in lineups after you play your first $5 lineup.Click Here: https://prizepicks.onelink.me/LME0/LOCKEDONNBA Indeed Listeners of this show get a $75 Sponsored Job Credit to help give your job the premium placement it deserves at http://Indeed.com/podcast Gametime Today's episode is brought to you by Gametime. Download the Gametime app, create an account, and use code LOCKEDON for $20 off your first purchase. Terms and conditions apply. FanDuel Today's episode is brought to you by FanDuel.Right now new customers can bet just five dollars and get one-hundred and fifty dollars in bonus bets if your first bet wins.Visit https://FANDUEL.COMto get started — Play Your Game.   FANDUEL DISCLAIMER: 21+ in select states. First online real money wager only. Bonus issued as nonwithdrawable free bets that expires in 14 days. Restrictions apply. See terms at sportsbook.fanduel.com. Gambling Problem? Call 1-800-GAMBLER or visit FanDuel.com/RG (CO, IA, MD, MI, NJ, PA, IL, VA, WV), 1-800-NEXT-STEP or text NEXTSTEP to 53342 (AZ), 1-888-789-7777 or visit ccpg.org/chat (CT), 1-800-9-WITH-IT (IN), 1-800-522-4700 (WY, KS) or visit ksgamblinghelp.com (KS), 1-877-770-STOP (LA), 1-877-8-HOPENY or text HOPENY (467369) (NY), TN REDLINE 1-800-889-9789 (TN) Hosted by Simplecast, an AdsWizz company. See pcm.adswizz.com for information about our collection and use of personal data for advertising.

Is playoff Rui changing the decisions the Lakers might have to make this offseason? We'll tell you next. You are Locked on Lakers. Your daily Los Angeles Lakers podcast, part of the Locked on Podcast Network, your team every day. Thanks to everybody for stopping my Locked on Lakers, Brian Kemininski, Andy Komenesky, Lakers getting ready for game three Saturday night in L.A., trying to find their way back into their series with the Oklahoma City,

thunder down to nothing. It will not be easy. I think that is fairly clear. I want to let people know that today's episode is brought to you by Fandul right now. New customers can bet just $5 and get $150 in bonus bets. If your first bet wins, head to Fandul.com to get started. We talked a lot, Andy, about the Austin Reeves of it all in terms of at the very least the comfort the Lakers might feel had if Reeves goes into the offseason,

you know, another bad playoff, wherever. Certainly Austin bounced back really well in game two, 31 points, six assists, and, you know, looked like the kind of player that you would need him to be against an excellent defense, making the kind of money that he's in line to get. There are other decisions, though. The Lakers need to make this offseason. and one of them is around Rui Hachamura. And it's funny, Andy, because whenever people talk about,

the Lakers are going to have this amount of cap and that and all these other things, it's always done with the assumption that a player like Rui Hachamora isn't on the books anymore. And he's going to go somewhere else. You're going to bring somebody else in. And, you know, the Lakers are going to rebuild with all that cap space and this and that. Rui Hachamura in, what is we on now, eight games of the play. playoffs this year continues to solidify himself as one of the best postseason shooters. The league has to offer currently is the greatest three-point shooter by percentage in NBA

playoff history. He's proving himself to be a valuable piece at this time of the year. Kind of creates an interesting dilemma for the Lakers as they go into the offseason. Yeah, to put a lot of this in perspective, he's averaging in this two games. against the Thunder, 17 points a game on roughly 56.5% from the field, 54% from behind the arc. Last series against the Rockets, about 16 points a game, 54% overall. Shade under 59% from behind the arc. Last season, his splits were 49% from the field, 48% from behind the Ark against the Timberwolves. He's only had one postseason, 2023, the season that the Lakers went to the Western

Conference Finals and lost Denver, where on balance for a postseason, he's been below 48% from behind the arc. Even the one season where he was with the Wizards and the Wizards went to the playoffs, seriously, that actually happened. Rui shots. Rui shot making things up, Andy. No, I'm not making this up. It's actually, it's Googlable.

You can find this. It's real. But he shot 60% from behind the arc in that series. And that was before Rui had really turned himself into a reliable three-point shooter period. The last three seasons with the Lakers, he has shot, I believe, 42% or better from behind the arc. Like, this is now a thing for Rui, if anything, and this has been one of my constant complaints for the last few years, Rui doesn't get enough shots. But in particular, Rui's consistency in the playoffs, what you do with somebody like Rui, you know, beyond the money and the cap space piece of

this and, you know, Rui's, if his rights are renounced, you know, the complications of bringing him back, even after renounce, like all the things like that. It also gets into an interesting question of where does Rui fit in if LeBron returns? Because there's still that positional overlap between the two, particularly defensively, that we've seen over the course of the regular season in March, that really incredible March, so much of that was about LeBron and Luca and Austin getting on the same page and finding a way to make them work together on the court. But it gets overshadowed a bit that another piece of it was Rui was moved to the bench where you lose that defensive overlap starting games with him and LeBron because in a lot of ways

they're better served with the same assignment, which combined with in a lot of ways, Luca being more of a defensive forward than guard, it creates some interesting questions for the Lakers moving forward. Like what do you do with a player who isn't all-star caliber and have limitations but is very good at the things that he does well? Right.

And it's and you know, the thing that he does well, he shot 44% from the floor that are from three point range this year, three seasons, three full seasons to the Lakers. Over, over 40%, 41% was the, number that you know in all of them so I mean that's pretty consistent at this point you can call that pretty reliable and the skill set that we're talking

about like you say it's critical and so the the the the the art here that Rob Polinka and friend you know the reports of of additional people coming into the front office this off season so either Rob Polinka and friend or Rob Hulinka and friends is jigsaw puzzling together a lineup that makes sense. Because once you get past, like the stars are the easy choices. It's the secondary guys, too, that you need to pay between 15 and 25 million or whatever might be, which like I don't think Rue, Ruey's making 19 this year, I believe. I don't think he's going to get that in the offseason.

But he's not going to get five either. So like every guy that the Lakers let go in one way or another needs to be replaced. And in some cases, that may not be that hard. But in others, replacing a 44% three-point shooter, size and athleticism and a really soft touch from mid-range and all that, the fact that he's a bad rebounder baked into the cake, average is about three-estred. assists a year, baked into the cake, and all these other things. Like, you've got those are the players that make these decisions hard, because on the right team, Rui can be really, really good. And on the wrong team, the contract can become an albatross.

We'll talk a little bit more about that. Plus, where the Lakers not quite getting what they need in this series, even with the challenges that the Thunder put up for them. We'll get to all that next. Lock on Lakers is brought to you by prize picks. The regular season, it is wrapped. The NBA playoffs are upon us, and there is no better way to get even more

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Indeed.com slash podcast. Terms and conditions apply need to hire. This is a job for Indeed, sponsor. Or a friend of mine once had a garage sale and he was, you know, priced all of his stuff, put it all out of the lawn and all these other things. And he was looking at his clothes that he had laid out there. And he was, it occurred to him that if he saw that shirt that he was selling on the sidewalk for $2 at a store, he would buy it.

there's an element of that, like, with these Lakers players that, like, you look around and, like, everybody's like, well, I need to get rid of all this stuff. We got to get entirely new things and all that. But if you look around this summer and Rui Hachimura or Luke Kinnard or some of these other guys were over there playing for another team, and you said, 44% three-point shooter, guy who has got the best percentage in three-point history in the NBA, I want that. guy on my team and obviously the money matters handy uh you know what that number is you know if you can get them for two bucks great but like you understand i'm getting that like there's this really weird dynamic that gets into play where sometimes like half the fans it seems like want to get rid of

everybody and bring in an entirely new roster which i could sort of understand and then you know you kind of get some success as a team you just want to keep rolling it back with the guys that you have and figuring out who to keep and who to get rid of in the economy that the Lakers are going to be navigating with the players that are likely to be available is going to be no easy trick for Rob Polenko. No, and to take the garage sale metaphor further, you have to look at what is already in your wardrobe, how much you already spent on that wardrobe, how much money you have left over, and then you start getting into the idea of the wardrobe you want, versus the wardrobe you need.

And then, you know, can a wardrobe that you maybe like 80% as much as the one that you like 100% more, but is 40% less percent less expensive? Can you get by with that shirt? And where you love that guy's wardrobe over there, but that wardrobe's not for sale and you can't have it. Well, I was going to say you don't have the exchangeable, tradable wardrobe in order to get, again, that particular shirt. you don't have as many valuable shirts as the other team would want.

But let's stop this. As far as as Rui goes, what I think is going to be really interesting about this is beyond the price point, because that will obviously matter both to the Lakers and to Rui, who, for what it's worth, has made it about as transparently clear as possible. He never wants to leave this place. Rui wants to be a Laker for the rest of his career. That dude enjoys being a Laker a lot. And I think that's helpful.

And I think the organization likes Rui a lot. He is a very likable guy. Every sense I've gotten is that he's extremely popular among teammates. Like, again, that stuff matters for culture. I think some of this too is going to be, is Rui comfortable with the idea of perhaps playing off the bench, if nothing else next season. if LeBron returns, and then eventually the idea of you will be starting at some point over, let's say, your three-year deal.

But for the time being, we need you to play off the bench while LeBron is here. And who knows, maybe whoever replaces LeBron, that player might end up in the starting lineup ahead of you. Are you cool with that at X amount of money? And then the Lakers also have to be cool with the idea of, we have to be cool with the idea of, we have to pay Rui enough money that he would want to stay, you know, or if nothing else maybe turns down comparable offer somewhere else or a little bit more. I don't know how many teams around the league are really going to have the available cap space

to give to Rui specifically, or he would be saying? No, because he's making himself, you know, with this kind of playoff performance, is making himself a much more attractive candidate in a very thin free agent year. Absolutely, but you still have to have the cap space and stuff like that. No, you do. But I'm just saying like it's a commodity that always has value in shooting. I think the Lakers have to be comfortable with the idea of, let's say Rui, for whatever reason, spends his entire next contract with the Lakers playing off the bench. Are we cool with $17 million a season?

I'm just throwing out that number. It's a little bit lower than what he's currently making. but I could picture something like that over, you know, 17 a year for three or four years, roundabouts that. Are you cool with that price point for a player that may end up coming off your bench the whole time? Playing an important role and providing some important skill sets, but he may not be a starter. Are you good with that?

Because like that's something the Lakers are going to have to be comfortable with as well because if they're going to bring back LeBron, if LeBron wants to come back and they can land on that number, Rui almost certainly then has to come off the bench. It really does not make sense. Given who is currently with this team, it doesn't really make sense. So everyone's got to be comfortable with that.

The other part that will be, that is obviously very hard to predict is, you know, the Lakers really do make a run at Peyton Watson, who I do, again, I do not think Nuggets are going to let him get away, but it's going to take a big number. It's particularly to get to the Lakers,

it takes a really big number. Although the number with, given his injuries lately, the number might be a little bit lower. A little bit, but not too much just because of his age. He, and the upward trajectory. And then, you know, that, you know, however many,

you have a four-week stretch where he was kind of put in a position of of prominence when they had their injuries and performed like off the charts, good. It was great. So, you know, the injury is going to make a difference and all that. But, you know, or Atari-Eason or guys like that, if you, it's, it's hard to go after a lot of other players while you're keeping some of these other guys on your roster. Like, you know, they're cap holes and stuff like that. So I'm just, I'm excited he's playing well.

I'm excited that, you know, that they've got, you know, a decent choice. in front of them because as much as you want turnover, I don't know if I want to turn over the entire roster, and I don't want to turn over players for the sake of turning them over so I can say, oh, we've got this new roster here next year. The player is good and fits and knows your star and knows how to play with them and knows your second guy and knows your culture and all that.

That's valuable. The Lakers are, you know, they're trying to build around Luca for the future, But the future does include next year. You don't want to be burning years of Luca's prime to try to sort of construct the best, you know, the perfect roster and stuff like that. You've got to be pretty good, pretty quick. And chemistry matters, you know, cohesion matters and things like that.

So there's a strong argument for bringing, you know, for not just clearing the decks on this team. Yeah, the last thing I would say as far as something that could work against Rui is the stuff that he brings to the table is valuable, but so are the things that he doesn't. And given the things that, you know, the traits that are needed most around Luca in terms of providing what Luca doesn't bring,

necessary, you know, high-end athleticism, we both think Luca can be better defensively than his reputation, but it's not his strong suit. And he's certainly not a versatile defender. And he's not going to be that type of two-way star. So you need to give them more defensive athletic support. And when you mention like Tarisen and Peyton Watson, you can make an argument that Rui is a better player overall than either one of them.

Like I think you can have that discussion. But those guys may actually provide more of what you need around Luca and what you currently don't have around Luca than Rui, who accentuates a lot of what's there. It's similar to some of the concerns I've expressed many times about committing long-term to Luca and Austin together. Luca and Austin have a lot of overlap. And it's not that I think the overlap doesn't work,

but I think in a perfect world, your top players offset each other more. So if you're going to make that work with Luca and Austin, you need to start bringing things that those two don't provide. Rui provides more of what's already there than what is missing. So that's another factor that could work against really. Yeah, for sure.

It's just, it's, it's complex. And everybody past your stars, especially, it starts to become, you know, kind of a chain reaction sort of thing. But if we get player A, then player B and C isn't a great idea, but player D and E could be. But if we get player C,

then player E and F are better than being silly. You know, it's just, there's this massive jig. saw a puzzle. It'd be fun to see how it comes together. In the meantime, game three, we'll, you know, we'll see if the Lakers can figure out a way to get themselves a win and send this series back to Oklahoma City for a game five. Lockdown Lakers on YouTube is we're going to hang out with over 20, I'm sorry, 38,000 subscribers of the channel. We'll see everyone after the game.