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Los Angeles Lakers: Josh Hart surprisingly has small role in Summer League

By Nick Ziegler

NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 10: Josh Hart #3 of the Villanova Wildcats takes a shot against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half of a college basketball game at Prudential Center on December 10, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. Villanova defeated Notre Dame 74-66. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images)
NEWARK, NJ - DECEMBER 10: Josh Hart #3 of the Villanova Wildcats takes a shot against the Notre Dame Fighting Irish during the first half of a college basketball game at Prudential Center on December 10, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. Villanova defeated Notre Dame 74-66. (Photo by Rich Schultz/Getty Images) /
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The Los Angeles Lakers suffered an overtime loss in their first Summer League game against the Los Angeles Clippers. In the loss, came a surprise in the rotation.

In the 2017 NBA Draft, the Los Angeles Lakers ended up with four draft picks in a very talented class. After trading down with the Utah Jazz, the Lakers ended up with the 30th overall pick in the draft. With that selection, the Lakers selected guard Josh Hart from the University of Villanova. In college, Hart proved to be a great college player.

In Hart’s junior season, Villanova was able to win a National Championship. On that team, Hart was a key player and certainly was a reason for their success. In his senior season, Hart took another big step forward. He was able to improve his scoring average once again and was named the Big East Player of the Year.

Even though Villanova was one of the top teams in the country in Hart’s senior season, they came up short in the NCAA Tournament. As a four-year college player, Hart was expected to have a sizeable role for the Lakers in the Summer League, and possibly in the regular season.

In the loss against the Clippers, Hart wasn’t much of a factor. Hart shockingly played just 13 minutes. In his limited time, Hart went 2-for-8 from the field, and 0-for-4 from three-point range. Even though Hart struggled to shoot the ball, he did have a +5 +/- ratio.

Considering his success and experience in college, it was surprising to see Hart only play 13 minutes in his Summer League debut. With another game coming up on Saturday against the Boston Celtics, it will be interesting to see if Hart gets more minutes.

Next: 3 Reasons to be excited for Summer League

On this Lakers team, it is clear that they can use some shooters on the court. As a good three-point shooter in college, Hart should be able to find a role on the team if he can shoot. However, he must hit his shots. Hart certainly wasn’t shy about shooting the ball in the loss to the Clippers. Unfortunately for him and the Lakers, he wasn’t very efficient.

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