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The Los Angeles Lakers drafted extremely well back in June with the team bringing in a promising new crop of players that could be around for quite some time. Along with rookie forward Kyle Kuzma, guard Josh Hart has far exceeded expectations thus far in his first season in purple and gold.
The Villanova product has slowly but surely made an impression on the coaching staff, his teammates, and the avid Lakers fanbase. Hart has gone from a player buried on the bench to role player that is trusted enough by Luke Walton and company to be inserted in the starting lineup when needed. The 22-year-old can do a lot of different things on the floor, but lately, he's been one of the team's best rebounders with Julius Randle revealing what the team calls him in the locker room.
“We joke, we call him Charles Barkley,” Randle said of Hart. “He’s great, especially from that guard position, then coming in and helping the bigs gets boards. He’s huge for us.”
While reporters surrounded Hart in the locker room after the win over the Phoenix Suns on Tuesday night, Jordan Clarkson got in on the fun as he made his way out of the Lakers locker room calling his rookie teammate, “Josh Barkley!”
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In the win over the Suns, Hart led the team in rebounding with 11 to go along with 15 points, three assists, one block, and a steal as a starter. It was his third straight game with a double-double, and that trend may continue if he remains in the starting lineup while Lonzo Ball continues to deal with the MCL strain.
At this point in the season, Hart is averaging 3.5 rebounds per game and will almost certainly continue to see that number rise as he's averaging 8.4 in that category per 48 minutes.
On Thursday, Hart and company will try to keep it going at the Staples Center as they try to get their eighth consecutive win at home when they host Russell Westbrook's Oklahoma City Thunder.
