Rui Hachimura's Calf Injury Causing Lakers 'High Level' of Concern, Darvin Ham Says

Los Angeles Lakers role player Rui Hachimura could be facing a serious injury, head coach Darvin Ham indicated Sunday:

The forward was ruled out for the remainder of Sunday's matchup with the New Orleans Pelicans due to a left calf strain, per Spectrum's Mike Trudell.

He started the game in place of the injured Cam Reddish (left groin soreness) but was only able to play eight minutes, registering four points, a rebound and an assist before exiting.

The 25-year-old has largely come off the bench for the Lakers, averaging a solid 11.9 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 48.3 percent from the field and 36.8 percent from three. But he's been very good when given the chance to start, putting up 16.8 points and five rebounds per contest in his four starts coming into Sunday's matchup with the Pelicans.

Losing Hachimura for any stretch of time would be tough for a Lakers team that was just 17-16 entering Sunday and thus far has dramatically underperformed given the high expectations surrounding a LeBron James and Anthony Davis-led team.

Outside of winning the In-Season Tournament, these Lakers haven't looked like a title contender thus far.

The team has tinkered quite a bit as it seeks a winning formula. LeBron has been moved to point guard while D'Angelo Russell was moved to the bench. The team has experimented with different starting lineups around James and AD. It wouldn't be a surprise if L.A. was busy ahead of February's trade deadline.

In theory, a roster of solid role players like Hachimura surrounding James and Davis should work. It did when the team won a title in the 2019-20 bubble playoffs. But thus far, it hasn't felt cohesive.

"I think, for the most part, it's figuring out really what we want our identity to be," Austin Reaves told reporters on Friday. "At this point, we would like to 100 percent know, but it's hard because we've not had a full roster. Guys have been in and out. But to really figure out what we want to do as a team, I feel like we can be so versatile that sometimes it might hurt us a little bit."

"We got good problems," Davis added. "... We got a lot of different lineups. Obviously, you want to stick with one lineup and kind of have it set where guys know their rotations and where they're going to get their shots and where they're going to play. But if we need to make an adjustment, we can always throw anybody in the spot because a lot of guys on our team can actually go anywhere and start."

That may be true, as evidenced by Hachimura playing well when asked to start. It just hasn't translated to the sort of record expected of the team at this point, and his latest injury may yet again muck up the works for the middling Lakers.