Rui Hachimura (八村 塁, Hachimura Rui, born February 8, 1998) is a Japanese professional basketball player for the Washington Wizards of the National Basketball Association (NBA). He played college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs and is a member of the Japanese national team. Listed at 6 ft 8 in (2.03 m) and 230 lbs (104 kg),[1] he plays both the small forward and power forward positions.[2] After being selected ninth overall by the Wizards in the 2019 NBA draft, he was named to the NBA All-Rookie Second Team in 2020.

This article may be expanded with text translated from the corresponding article in Japanese. (March 2022) Click [show] for important translation instructions. View a machine-translated version of the Japanese article. Machine translation like DeepL or Google Translate is a useful starting point for translations, but translators must revise errors as necessary and confirm that the translation is accurate, rather than simply copy-pasting machine-translated text into the English Wikipedia. Consider adding a topic to this template: there are already 3,184 articles in the main category, and specifying|topic= will aid in categorization. Do not translate text that appears unreliable or low-quality. If possible, verify the text with references provided in the foreign-language article. You must provide copyright attribution in the edit summary accompanying your translation by providing an interlanguage link to the source of your translation. A model attribution edit summary is Content in this edit is translated from the existing Japanese Wikipedia article at [[:ja:八村塁]]; see its history for attribution. You should also add the template {{Translated|ja|八村塁}} to the talk page. For more guidance, see Wikipedia:Translation.

Rui Hachimura

Hachimura with the Washington Wizards in 2022
No. 8 – Washington Wizards
Position	Small forward
League	NBA
Personal information
Born	(1998-02-08) February 8, 1998 (age 24) Toyama, Japan
Listed height	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)
Listed weight	230 lb (104 kg)
Career information
High school	Meisei (Sendai, Japan)
College	Gonzaga (2016–2019)
NBA draft	2019 / Round: 1 / Pick: 9th overall
Selected by the Washington Wizards
Playing career	2019–present
Career history
2019–present	Washington Wizards
Career highlights and awards
NBA All-Rookie Second Team (2020) Consensus first-team All-American (2019) Julius Erving Award (2019) WCC Player of the Year (2019) 2× First-team All-WCC (2018, 2019)
Stats  at NBA.com
Stats at Basketball-Reference.com
Medals Men's basketball Representing  Japan FIBA Asia Under-16 Championship 2013 Iran Japan

Born in Toyama Prefecture, Hachimura achieved success at the youth level in Japan, leading Meisei High School to three straight All-Japan High School Tournament titles and being a top player for the Japanese under-17 and under-19 national teams in FIBA competition. He joined Gonzaga in 2016 as the fifth Japanese-born men's NCAA Division I player and in 2017 became the first Japanese national to play in the NCAA Division I men's tournament. As a sophomore, he earned first-team All-WCC honors. He was named a finalist for the Naismith Player of the Year.[3]

Early life and career

Hachimura was born in Toyama Prefecture in Japan to a Japanese mother, Makiko (麻紀子) and Beninese father, Zakari Jabil. His given name, Rui (塁), means "base" or "fortress" in Japanese; the name was given to him by his grandfather because he was a big fan of baseball (the character 塁 is also used for "base" in context of baseball). His surname is from his mother's family register. He has three younger siblings, one brother, and two sisters. Hachimura's younger brother, Allen (阿蓮, Aren), is a basketball player at Tokai University in Japan.[4][5] In his childhood, he played baseball as a catcher and pitcher.[6] On December 29, 2013, Hachimura led the Meisei High School basketball team to its second title in the All-Japan High School Tournament, scoring 32 points in a 92–78 win over Fukuoka University Ohori.[6] In 2014, he helped his team win the tournament for a second straight year.[7] In April 2015, Hachimura was invited to the Jordan Brand Classic, where he recorded nine points and five rebounds in the International Game.[8][9]

On November 21, 2015, he signed a National Letter of Intent to play college basketball for the Gonzaga Bulldogs in the US, being considered by ESPN as one of the best international players entering college.[10][11] On December 29, 2015, Hachimura posted 34 points, 19 rebounds and three blocks to guide Meisei past Tsuchiura Nihon University High School [ja] for his third All-Japan Tournament victory.[12]

Despite signing with Gonzaga in the early signing period for 2016, Hachimura's eligibility to play college basketball was called into question.[13] The concerns were that he needed to acclimate better culturally and linguistically to the US and would potentially need to attend a prep school before entering Gonzaga or redshirting if eligible.[14] In February 2016, Hachimura claimed to understand 80 percent of English but speak only 30–40 percent of it.[15] By April 2016, Hachimura was still studying for the SAT to gain entrance to college.[16][17] In May 2016, Hachimura announced that he met the SAT and GPA requirements to be eligible to play at Gonzaga beginning as early as fall 2016. He planned to play as a true freshman and did not redshirt his first year.[18]

US college sports recruiting information for high school athletes

Name	Hometown	High school / college	Height	Weight	Commit date
Rui Hachimura SF/PF	Toyama, Japan	Meisei	6 ft 8 in (2.03 m)	230 lb (100 kg)	Nov 20, 2015
	Recruiting star ratings: Scout:   Rivals:   247Sports:    ESPN: N/A   ESPN grade: NR
Overall recruiting rankings: Scout: NR   Rivals: NR  247Sports: #136  ESPN: NR
Note: In many cases, Scout, Rivals, 247Sports, and ESPN may conflict in their listings of height and weight. In these cases, the average was taken. ESPN grades are on a 100-point scale. Sources: "2016 Gonzaga Rivals Commits". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015. "2016 Gonzaga Scout Commits". Scout.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015. "2016 Gonzaga ESPN Commits". ESPN.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015. "Scout.com Team Recruiting Rankings". Scout.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015. "2016 Team Ranking". Rivals.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015. "2016 Gonzaga 24/7 Sports Commits". 247sports.com. Retrieved November 20, 2015.

College career

Hachimura made his regular season debut for the Gonzaga Bulldogs on November 11, 2016,[19] against Utah Valley, recording one point and three rebounds in four minutes.[20] As a result, he became the fifth Japanese-born player to ever play NCAA Division I basketball.[21] On December 1, he scored a season-high 10 points in 13 minutes in a 97–63 win over Mississippi Valley State.[22] Hachimura scored eight points on February 23, 2017, against San Diego, helping his team win the West Coast Conference (WCC) title.[23][24] On March 16, 2017, after playing one minute against South Dakota State, he became the first Japanese native to ever appear in the NCAA Division I men's tournament.[25] Through 28 games as a freshman, Hachimura averaged 2.6 points and 1.4 rebounds while shooting 53 percent from the field in 4.6 minutes per game.[26]

In the 2017–18 campaign, Hachimura appeared in 37 games for Gonzaga, including two starts, averaging 11.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per contest.[27]

Coming into his junior season, Hachimura was named to the Preseason All-WCC Team.[28] He opened the regular season on November 6, 2018 by scoring 33 points in a 120–79 win over Idaho State.[29] On November 21, 2018, Hachimura recorded 20 points, 7 rebounds, and 5 assists to help upset No. 1-ranked Duke in the Maui Invitational finals.[30] Subsequently, he was named most valuable player of the tournament.[31] Hachimura was selected the 2019 WCC Player of the Year.[32] He led Gonzaga in scoring (19.7 points per game) during the 2018-19 season and also averaged 6.5 rebounds a contest.[33]

Professional career

Washington Wizards (2019–present)

On April 15, 2019, Hachimura announced that he would forgo his final year of eligibility and declared for the 2019 NBA draft,[34] where he was drafted ninth overall by the Washington Wizards. Hachimura was the second Japanese-born player to be drafted into the NBA after Yasutaka Okayama, and also the first Japanese player ever taken in the first round.[35] On October 23, 2019, Hachimura made his NBA debut, posting a double-double (14 points, 10 rebounds) as a starter in a 100–108 loss to the Dallas Mavericks.[36] On December 1, 2019, Hachimura scored a career-high 30 points in a 125–150 loss to the Los Angeles Clippers along with nine rebounds, three assists and a steal.[37]

In December of that year, he and Yuta Watanabe of the Memphis Grizzlies became the first pair of Japanese players to face each other in the NBA.[38]^{[failed verification]}

Hachimura suffered a groin injury against the Detroit Pistons on December 16 and had surgery and missed several games.[39] On September 15, 2020, Hachimura was named to the second-team NBA All-Rookie Team.[40]

During the 2021-2022 NBA season, Hachimura played 42 games while averaging 11.3 points per game, 3.8 rebounds per game, and 1.1 assists per game.[41] This represented a slight dip in his career averages. However, his three-point shooting improved dramatically: Hachimura's 44.7% rate was second only to Luke Kennard (44.9%) among NBA players with at least 100 attempts.[42]

National team career

Junior national team

Hachimura represents Japan internationally. At the 2013 FIBA Asia U16 Championship in Iran, he averaged 22.8 points, 12.6 rebounds and 2.8 blocks through eight contests,[43] guiding his team to a third-place finish.[44] In April 2014, he played the Albert-Schweitzer-Tournament in Germany with Japan's under 18 national team,[45][46] finishing in last place.[47]

Japan finished the 2014 FIBA U17 World Championships 14th of 16 teams, with Hachimura scoring a tournament-high 22.6 points per game, while pulling down 6.6 rebounds and blocking 1.7 shots per contest.[48] During the tournament, he scored 25 points on the USA team that went on to win the title; that team included four players who were chosen in the 2017 NBA draft—Jayson Tatum, Josh Jackson, Caleb Swanigan, and Ivan Rabb—plus other future college stars such as Diamond Stone and Malik Newman.[49][25]

Hachimura competed for Japan in the 2017 FIBA Under-19 Basketball World Cup, averaging team-bests 20.6 points and 11.0 rebounds a contest.[50]

Senior national team

In a qualification round for the 2019 FIBA World Cup, Hachimura scored 25 points to help Japan defeat Iran 70-56.[51]

Hachimura scored a game high 34 points in a loss to Slovenia during the preliminary round of the 2020 Olympics in Tokyo.

Personal life

Hachimura has been subjected to online racism by Japanese ethnic nationalists, once noting on Twitter that “Messages like this come almost every day,” referring to anti-black insults that his brother discussed receiving.[52]

Career statistics

NBA

Regular season

Playoffs

College

FIBA Senior Team Events Stats

William Jones Cup

References

External links

Wikimedia Commons has media related to Rui Hachimura.

• Official website
• Career statistics and player information from NBA.com  and Basketball-Reference.com 
• Washington Wizards bio
• Gonzaga Bulldogs bio

На других языках

[de] Rui Hachimura

[es] Rui Hachimura

[ru] Хатимура, Руи