Josh Hart, of Silver Spring, Maryland, is a valuable cog on the New York Knicks, who have won 11 straight playoff games and haven’t lost in over a month heading into the NBA Finals.


New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) reacts after scoring a three-point goal during the second half of Game 2 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)


New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) reacts after scoring a three-point goal during the second half of Game 2 in the Eastern Conference finals NBA basketball playoffs series against the Cleveland Cavaliers, Thursday, May 21, 2026, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

New York City is abuzz with Knicks mania. Long-suffering fans of the team who’ve endured the Knicks’ mediocrity for many years are now fighting for tickets to see the hottest team in basketball playing in its first NBA Finals this century.

Josh Hart, of Silver Spring, Maryland, has become a valuable cog on the team that has won 11 straight playoff games and hasn’t lost in over a month.

Now in his ninth season in the NBA, Hart’s durability, flexibility and all-around skills make him a fan favorite and a perfect player to complement Knicks stars Jalen Brunson and Karl Anthony Towns.

Hart has come a long way from his days playing in the Montgomery County Recreation League to going viral by untying the shoelaces of late night TV show host Jimmy Fallon as he sat courtside at a Knicks playoff game recently.

And now, he’s getting ready to play in his first NBA Finals. On Wednesday, the Knicks begin their best of seven NBA Finals series with the San Antonio Spurs.

It has been quite a journey for Hart, thanks to a tireless work ethic and a strong support system at home and in the community.

WTOP talked with his mom Pat to get the scoop on Hart and his journey.

A dream come true

The journey to the NBA Finals began in Montgomery County many years ago with a dream.

“Well, it’s something I don’t know if I ever pictured actually happening,” Pat Hart told WTOP. “I can’t remember what age it was. I remember Josh saying one time that he said, ‘I want to go to the NBA, and then after that I want to be a broadcaster.’ So you know my response to that was, well, my dream is for you to get a college scholarship. I said that’s all I ever wanted to see happen, so once he got his scholarship, it was like, well, I got my dream.”

A rough start at Sidwell

After his freshman year at Wheaton High School, Hart transferred to Sidwell Friends, a private school in D.C. with a much higher level of basketball and academics. It was a tough transition for Hart.

“He came from Wheaton … a public high school, and not that it’s a bad school, but compared to Sidwell, which is one of the top five high schools in the country, and presidents and diplomats,” Pat Hart said. “He did not have the required study skills for Sidwell. I mean, I think the first day he came into class, I remember him saying he sat down, pulled his hoodie up and put his head down on the desk, and everybody, including the kids, just kind of looked at him like, what the heck is he doing?”

“He had a very rough first year,” Pat Hart said. “At the end of that year, they actually told him they thought it was best if he went somewhere else that he would be better.”

Family, friends, neighbors and the school all stepped up, offering help with housing for a better study atmosphere, lunches and a tutor. All the kindness and support turned Hart’s high school experience and life around.

“He actually did very well in the end, but it took a village.”

Eagle Scout

During his senior season at Sidwell, Hart was named first team All-Met and earned his Eagle Scout badge, the highest honor for Boy Scouts. But it didn’t come easily.

Hart had risen from Boy Scout to Cub Scout but then, “he decided he didn’t really want to be bothered with doing that Eagle Scout thing, so he kept putting it off and putting it off and putting it off,” Pat Hart said.

An AAU tournament was coming up that would help determine where Hart would go to college, but his dad, Moses, said he couldn’t play because he did not fulfill his promise to finish his Eagle Scout work.

“We made a deal,” Moses said, according to Pat. “I fulfilled my end of the deal. You haven’t fulfilled your end of the deal. So, with that, Josh got working on it.”

Hart earned his Eagle Scout badge, something only 4% of Scouts achieve.

Villanova guard Josh Hart (3) reacts after he hit a 3-pointer during the second half of an NCAA college basketball game against the Georgetown, Saturday, March 4, 2017, in Washington. Villanova won 81-55. (AP Photo/Nick Wass)
A storied career at Villanova

At Villanova, Hart wasted no time making an impact. He made the Big East All-Freshman team in 2014 and won the league’s 6th Man of the Year award in 2015.

In his junior year, Hart helped lead Villanova to the 2016 NCAA national championship in a game remembered for Kris Jenkins hitting a buzzer-beating 3-pointer to beat North Carolina.

The next season, Hart collected Big East Tournament MVP and Big East Player of the Year honors.

He graduated with a degree in communications and, in 2022, Villanova retired his No. 3 jersey.

Two of Hart’s current Knicks teammates, Brunson and Mikel Bridges, were also teammates on Villanova’s 2016 national championship team. Collectively, the three are known as the “Nova Knicks.” Having three former college teammates play together on an NBA team is very rare.

They are all very close with each other and their former Villanova head coach Jay Wright.

“All those boys, they still all communicate with Jay, and Jay texts them, and they text back,” Pat Hart said.

Ten years after winning an NCAA title together, the “Nova Knicks” are trying to win an NBA title together.

The NBA journey

Hart was selected in the first round (30th overall) of the 2017 NBA Draft by the Utah Jazz, then immediately traded to the Los Angeles Lakers.

After playing for three teams (Lakers, New Orleans and Portland) in his first six years in the league, he was traded by Portland midseason in 2023 to the Knicks.

“He’s been popular any place he’s been, because of the way he plays and the things he does, and just doing whatever it takes to try and help his team win.”

Finding a home in New York

Now in his fourth season with the Knicks, Hart has become a very important player on the team. He led the NBA in minutes played with 37.6 per game last year and holds the franchise single season record with nine triple doubles.

“He’s always wanted to find a home and be with one team for more than … he was with other ones,” Pat Hart said.

43 years and counting

The Knicks are one of the NBA’s cornerstone franchises but have struggled to find sustained success for decades. New York last played in the NBA Finals in 1999, losing to the San Antonio Spurs led by Tim Duncan and David Robinson.

The last time the Knicks won an NBA Championship was 1973. The team featured legends Walt “Clyde” Frazier, Willis Reed, Earl “The Pearl” Monroe and Dave DeBusschere, all Hall of Famers.

How big a deal is it that they’re in the NBA Finals? The cheapest tickets on the secondary market for the first game in New York on June 8 (Game 3) are going for over $4,000 per ticket.

Commanders fan

A vocal fan of his hometown Washington Commanders, Hart often posts about the team on social media. And he’s been known to wear the team’s gear, including an oversized Commanders cap during a media scrum.

Teammates Brunson and Towns are avid Philadelphia Eagles fans, so there’s “quite a rivalry there,” according to Hart’s mom.

Hart is also a fan of the Chelsea soccer team in the English Premier League.

Family man

Hart is the youngest of three children. He and his wife Shannon Phillips have twin sons, Hendrix and Haze, who have joined Hart on the Knicks’ bench on occasion.

“He’s very devoted to his family, to his wife,” Part Hart said. “He’s always been more of a home guy, a homebody. Just as soon being home, he’s not going to go out to the clubs and party and drink a whole lot. He’s very, very much a family man. He’s very family oriented.”

Hart’s grand uncle on his father’s side is Elston Howard, a former New York Yankees catcher who was voted American League Most Valuable Player in 1963.

When he’s not with his family or playing basketball, he’s probably playing golf, playing video games or eating candy.

Candy man

Hart eats Mike and Ike’s candy before every game, a superstition that started in college, when he used to hide the candy in his parka so his coach wouldn’t find out.

In 2025, Mike and Ike appointed Hart as its first “chief candy officer” and this year, he was promoted to “president of candy ops.”

On a recent appearance of the Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, Hart took a box of Mike and Ike’s out of his jacket and shared his favorite candy with Fallon.

“He’s just got a sweet tooth, unfortunately, from my side of the family, so he comes by it naturally. He’s got a cabinet in his house next to his refrigerator that he can open up, and it’s nothing but shelves of Mike and Ike’s, just rows of boxes, Mike and Ike’s.”

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