Rui Hachimura fans furious over ‘tainted’ Lakers debut as major streaming network NBA Rakuten ‘crashes’ in Japan

RUI Hachimura’s debut with the Los Angeles Lakers was spoiled by the crash of the Rakuten streaming platform, which broadcasts NBA games in Japan.

Hachimura, 24, became the first Japanese-born player in Lakers history after coming on from the bench in Wednesday’s game against the San Antonio Spurs.

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The Lakers acquired Hachimura in a trade with the Washington Wizards earlier this week.

LA sent Kendrick Nunn and three second-round picks to bring the 6′ 8” forward.

Hachimura missed Tuesday’s Lakers loss to the LA Clippers.

But the following day he made his debut for Purple and Gold, checking in with four minutes and 22 seconds left in the first quarter of the matchup with the Spurs.

However, around the time of the notice, NBA fans from Japan complained on Twitter that they couldn’t see Hachimura in the game due to NBA Rakuten’s crash.

One wrote: “The only way to watch NBA in Japan is through NBA Rakuten and with Rui Hachimura’s debut game between the Lakers and Spurs the site crashed… so possibly no way to watch the game live here in Japan.” at this moment.”

Another tweeted, “The NBA Rakuten app crashed in Japan due to Rui Hachimura’s debut for the Lakers.”

And a third said: “There’s still a lot of games to come but there were a lot of fans who really wanted to see Rui hit the ground running in purple and gold for the first time. No clear explanation from Rakuten yet, very disappointing.”

Lakers sideline reporter Mike Trudell confirmed the news during the game.

The Wizards drafted the #9 Gonzaga pick Hachimura in the 2019 NBA draft.

He made history by becoming the first Japanese player to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft.

Hachimura made the All-Rookie Second Team in his first NBA season.

The forward averaged 13.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 1.2 assists while shooting 47.9% from the field and 35.6% for 3 in 177 games for Washington.

The US Sun contacted Rakuten for comment on the outage.