Rui Hachimura’s first full season with the Los Angeles Lakers has been an odd one, mostly because his role keeps changing. Because his part isn’t clear, the play went up and down, but it’s hard to tell where he fits in.

Head coach Darvin Ham put Hachimura on the bench, then made him a starter, then put him back on the bench, etc. This season, the 26-year-old had to deal with a lot of changes and adjustments. However, with Jarred Vanderbilt and Cam Reddish out, Hachimura is once again a starter.

The ex-Gonzaga Bulldog scored 21 points in a win over the New Orleans Pelicans on Friday, after scoring only two points on Thursday. Anthony Davis, Hachimura’s partner, says that Hachimura stepped up defending when he was paired with Brandon Ingram and Zion Williamson. 
Davis told Hachimura, “Yeah, he wants to do well.” “We made Rui guard under a lot of stress.” Zion and BI scored for him tonight. We don’t leave one guy alone, as you said, it’s a team defence. But all year, we’ve put him up against the best wing player on the other team and he’s done well. He’s gotten better. He can play defence just as well as he did tonight on offence. We’ll give him work that we think he can handle and make sure we help him behind the scenes whenever we can. 
Because of illness, the defence is short-handed, so Hachimura is taking on the task of guarding some of the best wings and bigs in the game. Because of his size, he can keep up with these players who can score, and it’s great to see that he is ready for the task. 
Nikola Jokic, who has won two MVP awards, played Hachimura in the Western Conference Finals last season. Hachimura held his own. Davis isn’t asking him to play that Vanderbilt role; all he wants is for him to take pride in the person he’s guarding, which Hachimura has been doing since he returned to the starting lineup.