Well-traveled Josh Hart would like to put down roots with Knicks
Knicks guard Josh Hart reacts in the second half of an NBA basketball game against the Brooklyn Nets at Madison Square Garden on Monday, Feb. 13, 2023. Credit: Kathleen Malone-Van Dyke
GREENBURGH, N.Y. — Josh Hart has played only three games as a Knick, but he has fit in so well on and off the court that he has his eye on a long-term stay.
“It’s something I definitely would want to do,” he said when asked after practice on Thursday about re-signing as a free agent after the season. “This is my sixth year in the league, fourth team, fourth organization, sixth head coach.
“I want a home. I want to find a home. This is a place where I would love that home to be.”
Assuming he does not pick up his nearly $13 million player option for 2023-24, to re-sign he must negotiate with Knicks president Leon Rose, who used to be Hart’s agent at CAA.
“Hopefully I can tap his pockets a little bit,” Hart said with a smile.
Hart said he was “bummed” when Rose left the agency and knows he now has a different role to play.
“This is also a business,” he said. “So there’s always love with me and him no matter what side I’m on or whatever it is. But I know it’s a business.”
All that will get sorted out in the offseason. For now, the 6-4 wing has been a helpful addition since arriving in a trade that sent Cam Reddish to Portland.
He has provided jolts of energy off the bench and averaged 17 points and 26 minutes, eased by his reunion with friend and former Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson.
“He brings a lot,” Brunson said. “I think the biggest thing he does is his relentlessness when it comes to whatever he’s doing. He’s so relentless when it comes to rebounding, transition, defending; he just does it with so much force and he does it like he doesn’t want to be denied.
“That’s just how he’s always been. When you have another guy like that on your team, it makes life a lot easier.”
In addition to being back with Brunson, Hart is pleased to be back near his alma mater and former coach Jay Wright, and back on the East Coast after stops in Los Angeles, New Orleans and Portland.
He grew up in Maryland, where his parents still live, and he has family in New Jersey. “It’s a perfect situation on and off the court for me right now,” he said.
Hart, 27, and his wife, Shannon, still are house hunting. She would like to live in the city, but assuming he remains on the team, Hart plans to look in Westchester County, too, this summer, preferably near famed Winged Foot Golf Club in Mamaroneck.
“If anybody’s a Winged Foot member that can hook me up,” he said, “we can put that Winged Foot membership in there, too, and then I’ll be good to go.”
Notes & quotes: Coach Tom Thibodeau said center Mitchell Robinson got through practice well and is trending toward returning Friday against Washington. He has not played since Jan. 18 because of a thumb injury that required surgery. “As long as he feels good [Friday], I think there’s a good possibility,” Thibodeau said . . . The Knicks signed guard Trevor Keels to a 10-day contract Thursday. They selected him in the second round of the 2022 NBA Draft out of Duke. Keels is averaging 14.9 points in 31.3 minutes for the Westchester Knicks.
Neil Best first worked at Newsday in 1982, returned in 1985 after a detour to Alaska and has been here since, specializing in high schools, college basketball, the NFL and most recently sports media and business.
