Josh Hart’s mangled finger has become one more symbol of what the Knicks were built on last season: pain, sacrifice and a refusal to back off.
Hart now says there really isn’t a clean fix for the injury. He can keep going, or his career can end. And the way he handled that reality fit the tone he has carried for years in New York - no drama, no wavering, just a decision to keep playing and deal with the rest later.
At media day ahead of the 2025-26 regular season, Hart said he would play with a splint and look at surgical options in the offseason. But after announcing his choice to fans online, he made clear the issue has narrowed to one final fork in the road.
"There is no other surgery for me to get besides a joint replacement. If I get a joint replacement, I can’t play with it and my career is over. So it will be wrapped until I retire," Hart wrote on X, still known as Twitter.
That kind of blunt resolve is exactly why Hart has become such a natural fit for the Knicks. He is a positionless, high-energy wing who plays with the kind of edge that has come to define “New York grit.” The same quality showed up all through the team’s playoff run, when the Knicks kept finding ways to survive whatever came at them.
And Hart’s own production backed up the toughness. Even with the splint, he posted a career-high 41.3% 3-point conversion rate.
Head coach Mike Brown didn’t hide his appreciation on Thursday, calling the finger ugly - with emphasis on both syllables - and describing Hart as a "tough son of a gun."
Hart was hardly the only Knick battling through something on the way to the title. OG Anunoby missed half of the second-round series against the Philadelphia 76ers.
Jalen Brunson was limited by knee and ankle injuries in Game 1 of the NBA Finals but still finished with 30 points. Mitchell Robinson also dealt with an injury before the series against the San Antonio Spurs and never missed a game, with the sweeps giving him time to rest.
So Hart’s story fits into a broader one. The Knicks were banged up, but not broken. Their championship run was built on players absorbing hits and keeping on going, and Hart’s finger is just the latest reminder of that identity.
It’s easy to see why fans gravitate toward him. Hart talks like a player who believes in sacrifice and winning, and then he follows through on it. In this case, he’s doing it with a wrapped finger and the same hard-nosed approach that has made him one of the faces of the Knicks’ grit.
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