The Washington Wizards are 4-1 for the first time since the 2014-15 season (shoutout Martell Webster) but after the high of every victory wears off, one question remains for fans, media members, and even Wizards players:
Where is Rui Hachimura?
Hachimura was given an excused absence due to personal reasons back in September (first reported by Shams Charania of The Athletic) causing him to miss Wizards training camp. Fast forward, and Hachimura still hasn’t joined the team.
Not only has he not joined the team, nobody has seen him.
According to multiple sources, Hachimura hasn’t been in the practice facility at the same time as his teammates. “We haven’t seen him at all,” one source told me. “Maybe he does individual workouts at night, I’m not sure. We have no idea what’s going on with him.”
Throughout the week, head coach Wes Unseld Jr. is continually pestered with questions regarding Hachimura’s status — the answers have been repetitive, but dense.
“There’s no timetable on his return,” Unseld has said multiple times. “We’re still bringing him along slowly…I can’t comment next month or next week. We’ll see how it goes.”
Back on the 27th of September, I reported that Hachimura’s absence was due to his mental health. During the summer, Hachimura participated in The Tokyo Games for host country Japan which was a huge deal for everyone involved. The Japanese men’s basketball team was on the world’s biggest stage for the first time since the 1976 Montreal Olympics, more than 20 years before Hachimura was born. Hachimura and women’s freestyle wrestler Yui Susaki were Japan’s two flagbearers for the Opening Ceremony on July 23 at the New National Stadium – an honor of great magnitude. Unfortunately, Japan dropped three provisional games at the Olympics, eliminating any hopes of a storybook ending. Hachimura put up 20 points (8-21 FG, 4-11 3P), two rebounds and one assist against Spain, 34 points (13-28 FG, 3-6 3P), seven rebounds, and three assists against Slovenia, and finished with 13 points (6-17 FG, 1-4 3P), 11 rebounds and two assists against Argentina.
“Whether it’s on defense or offense, I play to win,” Hachimura said following the loss to Argentina. “It doesn’t matter how many I score or don’t score. And seeing that we lost again, I don’t think I did enough.”
There has been chatter among the team that maybe Rui’s absence has something to do with the Olympics and the lack of success achieved in his home country, but still, no one is quite sure.
“What’s weird is Rui’s name is sort of taboo around here – nobody mentions him or anything,” another source added. “You probably know more than we do at this point when it comes to what’s going on with Ru.”
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