Recent remarks by Japanese basketball star Rui Hachimura voicing discontent toward the Japan Basketball Association and the national team have caused a stir in the domestic basketball scene.
The JBA has said that there was “miscommunication” between it and the Los Angeles Lakers forward. JBA leader Yuko Mitsuya has signaled that the association will create a new post in charge of liaising with Japanese players in the United States.
Hachimura first expressed dissatisfaction with the Japanese men’s national team, nicknamed Akatsuki Japan, on Nov. 13, saying, “I don’t want to say this much, but I don’t like the way the national team does things.”
