Rui Hachimura explains the importance of JJ Redick’s ‘champion form’

LOS ANGELES – Now in his second season as head coach Los Angeles Lakers, JJ Redick has often mentioned the need for the Lakers to be in what he calls “championship shape.”.’ The team began the 2025-26 season with a 10-4 record, which is currently good enough for fourth place in the Western Conference. For Rui Hachimuraone of the Lakers’ starting power forwards, that championship form is key to competing in today’s NBA.

“It’s (the NBA) more physical, but I think it’s faster. Everybody wants to go fast now. 140-150 points is normal now. That’s how everybody scores,” Hachimura said after the Lakers’ shootaround Tuesday morning. “We’ve got to be in the shape that JJ talked about, championship shape. We’ve got to think about it every game, every day, practicing it in games and stuff. We’re trying to focus on that.”

Through the start of the regular season, Rui Hachimura did my best in terms of being in championship form for the Lakers. He missed his first game of the season during the Lakers’ win against the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday with a calf injury, but assured the media at Tuesday’s walk-around that it wasn’t a major concern.

Hachimura was the Lakers’ starting power forward and appeared in 13 games with just over 34 minutes per game, third on the team in minutes played behind only Luka Doncic and Austin Reeves. He averaged a career-high 15.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 1.2 assists on 57.7 percent shooting from the field, 50 percent from the 3-point line and 73.3 percent from the free throw line.

Hachimura is now one of the longest serving players on the team, having joined the Lakers via a midseason trade with the Washington Wizards during the 2022-23 season. That year, he helped the Lakers make a surprise run to the Western Conference Finals while being the 7th seed in the West.

With the Lakers set to play the Utah Jazz on Tuesday night, a team that likes to play up-tempo and push the tempo, Hachimura talked about the challenge he brings and the kind of shape the team is in right now.

“That’s what we talk about … we talk about championship form. It started this offseason, we talked about how the NBA is changing right now, the fast pace, the physicality, you really have to lead the whole game,” Hachimura said. “That’s going to be important for us to focus on. I think our form is pretty good right now. Everyone’s back, our playing time will be spread out a little bit. I think with that we’ll be able to play harder.”