Josh Hart is the NBA’s 13th best shooting guard, according to a top-40 ranking from Zach Harper of The Athletic. That’s definitely going to sit well with the New York Knicks, their fans, and the 30-year-old.
This is only partly tongue-in-cheek. Probably. Many of the names in front of Hart are difficult to argue against. Anthony Edwards (No. 1), Devin Booker (No. 2), Donovan Mitchell (No. 3), and Desmond Bane (No. 4) all populate the top of this list.
Landing in 2-guard territory likely also ensures that Hart gets his highest placement possible. Positional designations are hazier than ever, but he’d have a hard time cracking the top 15 if he was shoehorned into wing or big-man rankings.
You could still make a case for Josh Hart to rank higher
The timing of this exercise isn’t doing Hart any favors. He is coming off a postseason campaign in which his offensive limitations at times significantly limited the Knicks, and many are bracing for head coach Mike Brown to now stick him with the second unit. Everyone else in front of him, with the exception of Alex Caruso (No. 12) and potentially Norman Powell (No. 11), profiles as a starter.
A 13th-place finish nevertheless feels slightly low. Other notable names after the Big Four who are higher up on the list include Klay Thompson (No. 5), Bradley Beal (No. 6), Zach LaVine (No. 7), Austin Reaves (No. 8), Lu Dort (No. 9), and Dyson Daniels (No. 10).
Though Harper separates everyone into tiers, some of these names are arguable. Reaves and LaVine are more dynamic on offense. Seeing them above Hart makes sense, particularly relative to the position’s stereotype. Beal is shakier, but we all might just be poisoned by the toxicity of his tenure with the Phoenix Suns.
Hart has shown more as a playmaker than either Dort or Daniels, but they both have him beat on defense. Whether Thomspon should be above Hart is debatable. His fifth-place finish feels a touch high when you consider his defensive slippage, and lack of on-ball work.
Josh Hart remains one of the NBA’s more underappreciated players
Over the past three years, across both the regular season and playoffs, Mikal Bridges, Jayson Tatum, and Anthony Edwards are the only players who have racked up more minutes than Hart. And during this time, Nikola Jokic and Luka Doncic are the sole players matching (or exceeding) his defensive rebounding rate, assist rate, steal rate, and true shooting percentage.
This doesn’t make Hart a superstar hiding in plain sight. And it’s tough to quibble over his rank when the Knicks may not even be married to him long term themselves.
Overall, though, too much of the focus continues to lie with what he doesn’t do. More attention should be paid to everything he does. Because for all his functional warts, his combination of availability and gap-filling carries a ton of value.