Apr 2, 2023; Houston, Texas, USA; Los Angeles Lakers forward Rui Hachimura (28) prior to the game against the Houston Rockets at Toyota Center. Mandatory Credit: Erik Williams-USA TODAY Sports
The NBA Playoffs are the last chance for players to make a statement for NBA Free Agency. Here are the ones helping and hurting themselves the most.
This offseason is shaping up to be wild with current or former All-Stars like James Harden, Kyrie Irving, Russell Westbrook, Kristaps Porzingis, Draymond Green, Khris Middleton and Fred VanVleet potentially hitting the market.
Many free agents are already at home, plotting their next moves after their teams missed the playoffs. But a few have a chance, in the first round of the NBA Playoffs or beyond, to leave one final impression on potential offseason suitors, inflating or deflating the value of their next contract. Here are a few of the players making the most of that opportunity, or wasting it completely.
NBA Free Agency stock up: Rui Hachimura
I argued earlier this week that Hachimura’s free-agency stock is being artificially inflated in these playoffs. The most significant factor in his playoff success has been simply making open shots — he’s 11-of-18 on open and wide-open 3-pointers against the Grizzlies. But we have a multi-year track record of him as a much shakier shooter, making 34.7 of 507 career attempts.
That being said, someone is going to look at some of his priors — 25-years-old, 6-foot-8, smooth athleticism, double-digit scorer every season of his young career — and then replace concerns about others, like questionable shooting efficiency and defense, with what they’re seeing in the playoffs. It might not end up being with the Lakers, but someone is probably going to end up taking a few extra millions in yearly salary onto his next deal if he keeps making shots like this in the postseason.