Josh Hart helped lead the New York Knicks to the Eastern Conference Finals, but he didn’t remain fully healthy throughout the postseason.
And now he addressed his injury concern in the offseason.
The Knicks announced Wednesday that “Hart underwent a procedure to his right ring finger due to an injury sustained in the playoffs” and will “resume basketball activities later in the summer.”
The guard was something of an ironman for New York this past season and led the NBA in minutes per game at 37.6 while appearing in 77 regular-season contests. He also appeared in all 18 playoff games despite the finger injury that required a procedure.
Hart appeared in 81 games for the Knicks during the 2023-24 campaign and then averaged 42.2 minutes per game in 13 postseason contests.
Perhaps the Villanova product won’t be asked to play quite as significant of minutes next season for the Knicks after they fired head coach Tom Thibodeau and hired Mike Brown. After all, Thibodeau has been known for playing his starters and primary rotation guys heavy minutes throughout his career, and Hart was someone he consistently asked to play the majority of games.
Alas, New York is also on the short list of the most realistic contenders in an Eastern Conference that figures to be wide open given the number of injuries and roster uncertainty for other challengers.
Tyrese Haliburton will miss the season for the Indiana Pacers, Jayson Tatum’s return date is still a question mark for the Boston Celtics and Damian Lillard is no longer on the Milwaukee Bucks. The Knicks and Cleveland Cavaliers could have the inside track to an Eastern Conference Finals matchup.
That would mean another deep playoff run and significant minutes to go around for Hart and other members of the Knicks core such as Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns, Mikal Bridges and OG Anunoby.
Having them all as healthy as possible would be ideal, so Hart is taking care of the finger injury that ailed him well in advance of the season.