Washington Wizards first-round pick Rui Hachimura doesn’t come close to teammate John Wall’s social media presence, trailing the injured guard by nearly 1.8 million Twitter followers.
Hachimura isn’t tops among his draft class, either. That honor belongs to No.1 overall selection Zion Williamson, who has 388,000 Twitter followers to Hachimura’s 113,000.
But, internationally speaking, Hachimura is arguably the NBA’s most popular rookie and already one of the league’s most popular players regardless of experience. His adherents include about 127 million people, the entire population of Japan.
“Rui is huge right now,” Kyodo News reporter Akiko Yamawaki tells ESPN’s “The Undefeated.