Getting to the world stage is as challenging as it gets for a professional athlete–and there are a few Lakers who have done it more than once.
Returning to a familiar place is the innermost way to see how different you’ve become. Unless you haven’t changed at all.
Who could’ve guessed that a young boy hailing from Toyama, Japan, whose first love was baseball, would inevitably take his country’s team to the world stage for basketball?
After his formative years of basketball dominance, Rui Hachimura became the fifth Japanese-born player to compete in NCAA Division 1. From there, his talent took him to the league as the No. 9 pick for the Wizards. Just three years later, Hachimura was leading Japan Basketball to Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics.
His debut was difficult. The 2020 Games actually had to be rescheduled for 2021 because of the global Covid-19 pandemic. There were no fans, no national fans, and many restrictions for athletes. “Mentally it was a struggle,” Hachimura explained. Japan was unable to garner a win against the competition and therefore didn’t advance.
This summer things felt different for Hachimura who entered the Olympics coming off two seasons as a Los Angeles Laker.
“This year was like a real Olympics,” Hachimura said with a big smile. “The whole crowd and the fans, there were so many people at every game—it was crazy actually. France is really big on basketball too, so we got a lot of attention. We had a lot of expectations. Last time we made it and this year we made it again. It was a great experience; the result wasn’t that good, but we have something for next time.”
He’s been with the Purple and Gold since February 2023 as a member of the squad who took the team to the Western Conference Finals that year. He is loved by the city and is often captured throwing up “LA fingers” when in front of a camera. When asked how playing for Los Angeles is the same as playing for Japan, “No, no, no,” he said immediately.
“Oh, it’s a lot different, both of them are big, but for me, you know I grew up in Japan. Being there early on I was really good at basketball, and now we’re an Olympic team. I’m the guy to do that. It’s really big. It means a lot to me.”
When asked about “next time”, Hachimura’s eyes widened. The Olympics are set for Los Angeles in 2028. No. 28 raised both of his hands to each side of his face, his palms facing one another. “That’s going to be like,” he said, slowly bringing his hands together…his two worlds colliding.
Hachimura wasn’t the only Laker to return to the Games this summer for a second time.
Twelve years ago, a young Anthony Davis left the University of Kentucky as the No. 1 pick in the NBA draft. He had just led the Wildcats to an NCAA championship.
But before the big man made his debut on the floor with his new team, the Pelicans, the rookie tipped off his professional career on Mike Krzyzewski’s Olympic squad. Davis was the first player since Emeka Okafor in 2004 to play on the world stage before making an official entrance into the league.
Team USA’s roster was stacked, and they were chosen as early favorites because of an illustrious cast including Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, Kevin Durant, and Carmelo Anthony. The team surpassed expectations and went 8-0 on their way to gold.
Davis played behind Tyson Chandler at center. The 19-year-old only played 7.6 minutes per game. This experience was about more than production on the floor. The seven games he got minutes, every touch he got in practice, the questions he got to ask, it was all foundational. It would all pay dividends.
More than a decade later, he returned to the Games, this time in Paris. This time a vet. This time an NBA champion. This time a dad.
This year, he explained, “they needed me.”
Davis’s defensive prowess was on full display. On the way to USA Men’s Basketball’s 17th gold medal and AD’s second, the Brow had four blocks, the most in a gold medal game since 1984, when blocked shots began being kept as an official statistic at the Olympics. Throughout the games, it was Davis, rather than the two other big men in Bam Adebayo and Joel Embiid, who had a team-high 1.5 blocks per game in 16.6 minutes. There was one game in their win over Serbia where Davis was responsible for the entire team’s six blocks. These Games were different for Davis. He’s become someone else in this league, somebody everybody knew he would be from the start.
Now a vet, there was still a lesson to be learned, as there had been 12 years ago coming out of the Olympics. “What I learned this year is to never take anything for granted,” Davis reflected. “Playing alongside Bron, KD and Steph [Curry], obviously they’re the oldest guys on that team, maybe the oldest guys in the league, their greatness is definitely going to be missed when they leave the game, whenever that is. That was the biggest thing for all of us—not taking these special moments for granted.”
As Davis mentioned, he played alongside some of “the oldest guys in the league,” the oldest being his 39-year-old teammate LeBron James. This was James’ fourth appearance at the Games. He now joins Durant and Anthony as the third American man to appear in four Olympics.
He was 19 years old when he made his debut at the 2004 Games in Athens, Greece.
James had just finished his rookie season with the Cavaliers and was about to be a first-time dad that October. He left Athens with a bronze medal. Four years later, the superstar won his first gold. And four years after that, he brought home another while being named USA Male Athlete of the Year.
This summer, more than a decade later, a lot has changed for James. Since his last Olympic appearance, he’s added three more NBA championships to his resume, became a girl dad, and the NBA’s All-Time Leading Scorer.
James opened the Games as the face of all American professional athletes. “It was an honor to be granted that wish and that moment alongside the great Coco Gauff,” he said of being the first men’s basketball flag bearer. “To represent our fellow Americans and fellow athletes as we’re all striving for gold, and to be able to medal in our respective sports was an honor.”
And he left the Games with some hardware and as men’s basketball’s Olympic MVP. “My favorite part of Paris was just locking up with my teammates, stepping on that podium after we won gold, and taking it all in.”
A lot has changed for James. But he’s no different. His greatness always just remains.
“Nothing will be different about me; I’ll always bring the same energy every single day,” James declared heading into his 22nd season a 3X gold medalist. “I’m here to lead this franchise and put this franchise in a position to be able to compete for the Larry O’Brien trophy. My presence will always be felt. As a leader of this franchise, it’s very important that every single day I show up to work, have an even-keeled mentality. And hold these guys accountable and I hope they do the same…especially Rui, I’m going to be on his ass from day one.”
