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Spencer Aguiar highlights three fantasy basketball takeaways from the NBA's January 19th slate. This recap focuses on Josh Hart, Ante Zizic, Will Barton and Gary Harris.
Welcome to the RotoBaller NBA Recap. In this feature, we highlight three fantasy basketball takeaways from last night's slate of NBA games. Saturday was a wild day in the NBA that featured game-winners, ejections, injuries and all-around quality fantasy performances. The James Harden experience continued against the Los Angeles Lakers. Harden scored 48 points to go along with eight rebounds, six assists, four steals, one block and eight three-points during Houston's 138-134 overtime victory. The 29-year-old has averaged a staggering 47.6 points per game in his past six contests, tallying 9.5 rebounds, 7.3 assists, 1.0 blocks, 2.5 steals and 5.6 three-pointers. Harden has stolen the frontrunner status for the MVP Award from Giannis Antetokounmpo and is registering all-time historical numbers.
The Sacramento Kings beat the Detroit Pistons 103-101 on a last-second buzzer-beater from Buddy Hield. The 26-year-old finished the game with 35 points, nine rebounds, three assists, one block and seven three-pointers. The game-winner was one of the more unbelievable game-winning shots of the season with Hield losing his dribble, splitting three defenders and eventually hitting an off-balance three-pointer. The sixth pick in the 2016 draft has been superb in the month of January, recording a 68.2 true shooting percentage with averages of 23.4 points, 4.2 rebounds, 2.0 assists and 4.6 three-pointers.
And the Oklahoma City Thunder escaped the Philadelphia 76ers 117-115. Paul George ended the game with 31 points, six rebounds, five assists, three steals and four three-pointers. The 28-year-old provided the signature moment of the game with an and-one three-pointer with 5.1 seconds left to take the lead. George looks to be playing the best basketball of his career, which is an excellent sign after the scary injury he suffered during a Team USA showcase game in 2014. During January, Geroge is averaging 27.9 points, 7.2 rebounds, 3.4 assists, 2.4 steals and 3.8 three-pointers. He has become the Thunders go-to player late and is in the running for the MVP Award this year. We still have three additional fantasy takeaways from Saturday night to discuss, so without further ado, let's take a closer look into what happened around the league on January 19th.
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Josh Hart Will Most Likely See Extra Minutes
Lonzo Ball injured his left ankle in the game on Saturday versus the Houston Rockets and had to be helped to the locker room. The injury did not look good, and Ball will almost surely be missing time. Josh Hart subbed in for Ball in the third quarter and finished the game with seven points, five rebounds, two assists, and one three-pointer in 26 minutes.
Hart produced 12 points, 10 rebounds, five assists, one block, three steals and two three-pointers on Thursday and should be added in standard leagues. He is currently owned in 45 percent of Yahoo settings, so there is no guarantee of finding him on your waiver wire, but the 23-year-old has been a borderline top 100 player in nine-category leagues this season before the injury and could become an even better addition if Ball does indeed miss time. If you can open up a spot on your roster, he is worth an add to see how the situation plays out in Los Angeles.
Ante Zizic Scores Career-High 23 Points Versus Denver
In one of the best outings of his young career, Ante Zizic scored a career-high 23 points to go along with six rebounds in the Cavaliers 124-102 road loss to the Denver Nuggets. Zizic was starting for an injured Tristan Thompson and made the most of his extra playing time. The 22-year-old has been phenomenal in his last four games of playing 24 or more minutes, averaging 18.0 points and 8.0 rebounds while shooting 67.5 percent from the floor.
Zizic should receive enough playing time to have an impact as long as Thompson remains out, but if you are looking for anything more than a short-term rental, you can do better on the waiver wire. Kevin Love should be back in about a month, and Thompson could return at any point. The rotation is too crowded for any long-term longevity and is a situation that I would rather avoid.
Will Barton And Gary Harris Have Solid Buy-Low Windows
Both Will Barton and Gary Harris are currently under a minutes restriction that ranges between 18-21 minutes, and head coach Mike Malone has yet to state when the limitation will no longer apply for either player. Harris scored four points on Saturday to go along with one rebound and one assist while Barton finished with five points, one rebound and three assists.
Both players have the potential to be top 50 fantasy producers when healthy, so it is just a matter of being able to be patient with the duo. The majority of owners that have held onto them for this long won't be giving them away for free, but there is a potential buy-low window beginning to open for both. Denver is in action three times between January 21st and January 27th and will see four games the following week. They have a difficult road contest against the Jazz on Wednesday, and it could present an excellent opportunity to test the waters after that game is over.
