When the Suns and Lakers face off on Tuesday in the In-Season Tournament Quarterfinals, most eyes will be focused on the stars. Bradley Beal continues to be out with a back injury, but LeBron James, Anthony Davis, Kevin Durant and Devin Booker are all expected to play.
With so much high-end talent on both rosters, it might come as a surprise then that the Suns are just 12-8 on the year, while the Lakers are 12-9. Those mediocre records have been due to a combination of Phoenix's stars missing time throughout the year and both teams not getting enough out of their role players.
That makes the performance of Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe potentially very important. Both have shown at times that they can slot in as the perfect energy piece to help lift their teams.
Here is the role that Hachimura and Watanabe could play on Tuesday.
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Rui Hachimura and Yuta Watanabe injury status
Both Hachimura and Watanabe have battled injuries so far this season that have limited their effectiveness.
Hachimura missed four games at the start of the season with a concussion and has sat the team's last five games due to a nasal fracture. He was listed as available for the Lakers' game against the Rockets on Saturday, but Lakers coach Darvin Ham decided to sit him out after he went through his pregame routine, per The Athletic's Jovan Buha.
Ham told Buha he was hopeful that Hachimura would make his return for Tuesday's game, but his status is still unknown.
Watanabe has played in only three of the Suns' last eight games. He has been recovering from a quad injury but should be good to go on Tuesday.
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How has Rui Hachimura been playing lately?
That nasal injury came at the worst time for Hachimura. He had been excellent in his nine games back from his concussion, averaging 13.0 points on 52.4 percent shooting from the field and 46.2 percent from 3.
After averaging a career-low 20.6 minutes per game through the Lakers' first 12 games, Hachimura had forced Ham to play him more. He was up to 28.5 minutes per game in his last four games, and the Lakers were 3-1 in that span.
Ham was trusting Hachimura with tougher defensive assignments, such as guarding Luka Doncic for stretches. While Doncic did hit some contested 3s against him and get to the lane, Hachimura also had a few nice stops.
Hachimura broke his nose late in that Mavs game, and the Lakers have struggled without him. They had good wins against the Cavaliers, Rockets and last-place Pistons but lost by 44 points to the 76ers and 23 points to the Thunder. They have missed the scoring punch that he provides off the bench.
Hachimura may also be pushed down the depth chart due to the return of Jarred Vanderbilt, who made his season debut on Saturday. Those two have competed for minutes throughout their shared time on the Lakers. Vanderbilt played good defense in his first game back but went scoreless in 14 minutes. They will likely go back-and-forth depending on if Ham wants more offense or defense on the floor.
How has Yuta Watanabe been playing lately?
Watanabe's play has been up and down this season. He's shooting a solid 36.5 percent from 3 but only 36.4 percent from the field.
Although Watanabe's 3-point shooting has fallen off a bit since last season, he still has the trust of the coaching staff. Frank Vogel recently subbed him in for the last possession of the first quarter in their game against Memphis in the hopes that he could spread the floor.
He did exactly that, hitting a corner 3 when the Grizzlies brought three defenders on Devin Booker's drive.
Watanabe has leaned into that specialist role. Per Basketball Reference, 78.8 percent of his shots this season have been 3s. That is by far the highest mark in his career — before this season, 51.7 percent of his shots had come from 3.
Watanabe is in the midst of a cold streak since returning from his quad injury. He's hit just 27.3 percent of his field goals and 33.3 percent of his 3s in those four games, one of which he sat out completely as a healthy scratch.
Watanabe and Hachimura have had somewhat quiet starts to their seasons, partially due to conditions out of their control. Each has shown that they can get hot in a hurry, so Tuesday's matchup could potentially be a breakout game for one or both.
