Josh Hart hasn’t looked like himself, and the Knicks can’t afford for that to be the new normal.
Mikal Bridges has taken plenty of heat for New York’s rough start, but he’s not the only starter whose game has been off. Hart, usually one of the Knicks’ most reliable engines, has been quiet in ways that are tough to ignore. The bigger question now is whether this is just a player still working back from a battered body or the first real sign of something more troubling.
Hart told Stefan Bondy of the New York Post that a calf injury kept him out for three weeks in September. He also dealt with a right ankle injury in training camp, then reaggravated it during the regular season.
He had already missed three games this season, including two because of an ankle issue and one because of illness. Maybe the simplest explanation is still the right one: he just hasn’t fully recovered yet.
Whatever the reason, the production has been rough. In Friday’s loss to the Pacers, Hart finished with zero points in 23 minutes. And this time, it was Hart - not Bridges - who was on the bench in the fourth quarter.
Through nine games, the numbers are not what the Knicks are used to seeing from him. Hart is averaging 7.3 points, 6.7 rebounds and 3.8 assists in 30.1 minutes per game.
That’s nearly five fewer points per night than last season, even though his playing time is basically the same. His shooting line - 36.2/29.5/60.0 - tells the same story.
The Knicks still haven’t gotten the usual burst from the player who can fill up every column and turn into a triple-double threat on any given night. After the first three games, Hart hasn’t even been a single-double player. He hasn’t scored more than eight points in any of his last six appearances.
Even the easy stuff around the rim has been less automatic. Hart has long been the kind of player who turns a one-man fast break into points or free throws. This season, those chances have sometimes ended in strips or blocks, and they haven’t come around as often.
For New York, the hope has to be that this is about healing, not decline. Hart is too important to what the Knicks do to be a diminished version of himself.
And with the 10-year veteran turning 32 on March 6, the wear on his body is real. Since his first full season with the team in 2023-24, only two players have logged more total minutes than Hart: Bridges and Jalen Brunson.
That’s why the conversation is unavoidable, even if the Knicks are still betting against the worst-case version of it.
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