The LA Lakers have just signed Rui Hachimura and fans are eager to find out more about the player, including his brief bio and parents, ethnicity, siblings, meaning behind his name and more
The Washington Wizards traded Hachimura to the LA Lakers in exchange for Kendrick Nunn as well as three second-round picks.
Who Lakers Rui Hachimura parents, his father, mother, family, nationality and ethnicity
New chapterโฆ pic.twitter.com/nouK4tbsdR
— Rui โLouisโ Hachimura ๅ ซๆ ๅก (@rui_8mura) January 26, 2023
Rui Hachimura on why he chose No. 28 with the Lakers:
โNo. 2 for Gianna & No. 8 for Kobe.โ pic.twitter.com/NfX2DUCvSo
— FIBA (@FIBA) January 31, 2023
The 24-year-old forward proves to be a much-needed extra body for the Lakers who are aiming for a playoff spot. Throughout his first four games for LA, Hachimura has averaged 13.3 PPG on over 52 percent shooting.
Rui Hachimura brief bio and parents
Rui Hachimura was born in Toyama, Japan in 1998 and has quite an interesting background. He was born to parents Makiko and Zakari Jabil. Hachimuraโs parents are from two very different countries, his mother Makiko is Japanese, while his father Zakari hails from Benin, West Africa.
Rui Hachimura has three other siblings, a brother and two sisters. His younger brother Allen (Aren) also plays basketball and played at the Tokai University back in Japan. Rui ย spent most of his childhood in Japan and started playing basketball in the USA since 2016 after joining Gonzaga.
Age and height
Rui Hachimura is currently 24-years-old and stands at a height of 6ft 8 in.
Ethnicity
Rui Hachimura has a mixed ethnicity although he is officially Japanese by nationality. He lived in Japan until moving to the US in 2016. Back in February 2016, Rui reportedly revealed that he understood about 80% of English, but he could only talk about 30-40% of it.
Meaning behind Ruiโs name
Ruiโs name literally means โbaseโ or โfortressโ in Japanese. Rui got his name from his Japanese grandfather who was apparently a big fan of baseball. As a youngster, Hachimura played a lot of baseball as a catcher and pitcher. Ruiโs surname is also Japanese, and belongs to his motherโs side of the family.
Racial discrimination
Rui and his brother Allen have reportedly been the subject of racial discrimination in the past. Back in 2021, Aren Hachimura shared a screenshot, which revealed racial slurs that he receives. According to local report, the insults on the screenshot were allegedly โanti-blackโ and Rui had reportedly commented:
โmessages like this come almost every day.โ
International Career
So far, Rui has represented Japan in international basketball and played in the qualification round for the 2019 FIBA World Cup. He has also represented Japan during the 2020 Tokyo Olympics preliminary round.
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