Rui Hachimura Leaves the Lakers for a Two-Year, $28 Million Clippers Deal

Rui Hachimura agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal with the LA Clippers, leaving the Lakers after three-plus seasons. He turned down the Warriors, Timberwolves, Nets, and Spurs to stay in Los Angeles.

Sports

uristocrat

July 6, 2026 2 min read

Rui Hachimura Leaves the Lakers for a Two-Year, $28 Million Clippers Deal — Rui Hachimura signed a two-year, $28 million deal with the LA Clippers. Photo: Wikimedia Commons

Key Points

Rui Hachimura agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal with the LA Clippers.
He leaves the Lakers after three-plus seasons, ending an $18.3 million expiring contract.
Hachimura shot 44.3% on threes in the regular season and 56.9% in the 2026 playoffs.
He turned down the Warriors, Timberwolves, Nets, and Spurs to stay in Los Angeles.

Rui Hachimura has agreed to a two-year, $28 million deal with the LA Clippers, ESPN's Shams Charania reported Monday. The 27-year-old forward stays in Los Angeles but crosses town, leaving the Lakers after three-plus seasons for their arena rival at the Intuit Dome.

Hachimura was one of the more efficient wings on the market. He averaged 11.5 points on 51.4% shooting and 44.3% from three in the 2025-26 regular season, then raised his game in the playoffs — 17.5 points on 54.9% from the field and 56.9% from three, the best mark among any player who attempted at least five threes per game in the 2026 postseason. The Lakers had acquired him from Washington during the 2022-23 season for Kendrick Nunn and four second-round picks, and he was coming off an $18.3 million expiring contract.

He had options. Hachimura turned down offers from the Golden State Warriors, Minnesota Timberwolves, Brooklyn Nets, and San Antonio Spurs to stay in the city. The Clippers and Lakers discussed a sign-and-trade, but the Lakers wanted draft capital in return and the Clippers offered minimal cash, so the deal fell through — meaning the Lakers get nothing back for a rotation piece who walked across the parking lot.

For the Clippers, a 27-year-old who shot 44% from deep at roughly $14 million a year is efficient spending, and the move preserves flexibility to chase restricted free agent Peyton Watson. For the Lakers, it is a quiet cost in a summer of them: they are also losing LeBron James after eight seasons and rebuilding around Luka Doncic and a re-signed Austin Reaves. Letting a productive, cost-controlled wing leave for nothing — to the team that shares their building — is the kind of loss that doesn't make headlines but narrows a rotation.

Source: ESPN.