\u201cHe\u2019s the heart and soul of the team from an energy perspective,\u201d Miles McBride said. \u201cI bring a lot of energy, we got a lot of guys that do. But he\u2019s been doing it for so long and we\u2019ve all been able to use him as the nucleus.\u201d<\/p>\n
It wasn\u2019t supposed to be like this with Hart, by the way. He wasn\u2019t supposed to hold everything together with his energy, leadership, playmaking.<\/p>\n
The 30-year-old started the season coming off the bench and with a mangled ring finger on his shooting hand, the product of a dislocation from the playoffs and a setback during offseason workouts. <\/p>\n
Hart\u2019s jump shot was a misfiring mess for a couple of weeks to begin the campaign, and he felt compelled to clarify that another surgery to fix that finger \u2014 which would have taken months off his season, maybe more \u2014 wasn\u2019t an option.<\/p>\n
![\"Josh](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/new-york-knicks-guard-josh-118221597.jpg\")
Josh Hart in plain clothes in the first half of the Knicks\u2019 loss to the 76ers at Madison Square Garden on Jan. 3, 2026. JASON SZENES\/ NY POST<\/p>\n
Then Hart stepped into the starting lineup and the Knicks took off, feeding off his rebounding and pace.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe\u2019s a connector. He\u2019s a glue guy,\u201d coach Mike Brown said. \u201cThere\u2019s a lot of things that we can do with him on the floor, on both ends of the floor, that he brings to the team.\u201d<\/p>\n
Nonetheless, Hart\u2019s badly sprained right ankle \u2014 sustained Christmas \u2014 arrived with a belief the Knicks would easily endure.<\/p>\n
After all, they handled a nine-game injury absence to OG Anunoby by going 6-3.<\/p>\n
They split two games with Miami after Jalen Brunson suffered an ankle sprain.<\/p>\n
They went 6-2 after Miles McBride\u2019s ankle sprain.<\/p>\n
They are 2-1 this season without Karl-Anthony Towns.<\/p>\n
Without Hart? The Knicks are 3-5 and losers of five of their past six.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n
Brown downplayed Hart\u2019s absence as a singular issue for the team\u2019s struggles \u2014 \u201cYou factor in could it be opponents? Could it be the time of the year? I\u2019m not sure,\u201d the coach said \u2014 but the forward\u2019s return, which could come as soon as Sunday against the Blazers, represents the easiest and quickest fix.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, it\u2019s tough when you\u2019re missing a big part of your team in a new system, new offense, new philosophy, scheme,\u201d Karl-Anthony Towns said.<\/p>\n
A big part of the problem has been just setting up the offense. Without Hart helping to bring up the ball \u2014 which he often does with pace, especially after grabbing a defensive rebound \u2014 the Knicks are left with Jalen Brunson taking on more ballhandling responsibilities, contradicting Brown\u2019s goal of playing him off the ball like Stephen Curry.<\/p>\n
Tyler Kolek, Mikal Bridges and McBride have struggled to break presses as primary ball handlers.<\/p>\n
![\"New](\"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/01\/cleveland-cavaliers-vs-new-york-117859424.jpg\")
Josh Hart hurts his ankle on a shot and its fouled during the fourth quarter of the Knicks\u2019 Christmas Day win over the Cavaliers. Charles Wenzelberg \/ New York Post<\/p>\n
So Brunson has more on his plate.<\/p>\n
Case in point: in the past eight games, all without Hart, Brunson\u2019s averages of seconds per touch and dribbles per touch have increased, according to NBA.com. At the same time, Brunson\u2019s paint touches have dramatically decreased. So he\u2019s doing more dribbling up the court and into low-efficiency situations.<\/p>\n
Asked about the need for help since he\u2019s become the team\u2019s only reliable playmaker without Hart, Brunson, the captain, disagreed with the premise \u2014 and, as a result, strayed from throwing teammates under the bus.<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\t\tWhat\u2019s happening on and off the Garden court\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\n\t\t\t\t\t\t\tSign up for Inside the Knicks by Stefan Bondy, a weekly exclusive on Sports+.\t\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\t\t\t\t\t\tThank you\n\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
\u201cWe need [Hart] back but I do believe we have secondary playmakers [after myself],\u201d Brunson said. \u201cWe have them on our team. And you may think differently but that\u2019s how I feel.\u201d<\/p>\n
Brown said the paint touches \u2014 a staple of his offensive system \u2014 have diminished across the roster.<\/p>\n
Again, they\u2019ve missed Hart. But it looks like his return Sunday is a strong possibility.<\/p>\n
\u201cOur overall paint touches are down and our overall sprays [drive-and-kicks] are down,\u201d Brown said. \u201cSome of it is we\u2019re not moving the ball like we were, but Josh, again, he\u2019s another ball handler that gets downhill very well. He makes quick decisions, gets downhill, and if you cat-and-mouse, he\u2019s definitely going to finish. If you come to him, he\u2019s a great spray guy. To be missing that, makes it tough when it impacts all of us.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"PHOENIX \u2014 It\u2019s been easy to appreciate Josh Hart when he\u2019s not around. And with Hart on the…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":528529,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":"","_share_on_mastodon":"0"},"categories":[3768],"tags":[7,327,304,6,1136,191,3810,3806,66],"class_list":{"0":"post-528528","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-new-york-knicks","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-josh-hart","10":"tag-knicks","11":"tag-nba","12":"tag-new-york","13":"tag-new-york-knicks","14":"tag-newyork","15":"tag-newyorkknicks","16":"tag-sports"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115874369956087553","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528528","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=528528"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/528528\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/528529"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=528528"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=528528"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=528528"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}