After a slow start to the year that included missing the New York Knicks' regular-season opener, Josh Hart has cobbled together a couple of refreshing Josh Hart-ian performances. Just don't get used to it.
From the sounds of things, the injury to his shooting hand is going to impact him differently on a night-to-night basis.
Hart recently told The Athletic’s Fred Katz and James L. Edwards III that the “affliction affects the fourth finger on his shooting hand the most, but feeling is also going in and out of his middle and pinky fingers, not just on the court but also in daily life tasks.” The 30-year-old has already ruled out surgery in-season, which would sideline him for three months. He is instead planning to wear a finger splint, and gut it out.
Nerve issues are no joke. Hart attempting to play through this is admirable, and likely not without risk. It’s also so Josh Hart.
Still, the pain and symptom management figure to inject more inconsistency into the Josh Hart experience. We don’t yet know if the Knicks are equipped to handle it.
Josh Hart has already struggled to start the season
Even with a couple of better outings under his belt, Hart remains almost a complete non-factor from the perimeter. He is shooting 4-of-18 on threes (22.2 percent), and just 20.8 percent on all attempts outside the restricted area.
A 9-of-12 clip at the rim is encouraging, and also a little misleading. Six of these makes came over the past two games, during wins over the Chicago Bulls and Washington Wizards. Prior to them, Hart was converting a pedestrian 50 percent of his looks at the basket (3-of-6).
Perhaps more troubling than the point-blank efficiency is the overall rim frequency. Last year, almost 46 percent of Hart’s shots came inside the restricted area. That number is down to 33 percent this year.
It’s easy to chalk this up to his finger injury, not to mention the back issues he dealt with to start the season. Whether that’s the root cause of his struggles, though, is technically debatable. We’re not doctors, and his job description has changed coming off the bench.
Yet, even Hart himself acknowledges the role his hand is playing in everything.’ “It’ll probably be a process until I get full feeling back,” he told The Athletic. “The hand will be what it is. I’m working (on shooting) all the time. That’ll come along.”
Will it come along, though? It’s a harsh, albeit totally fair, question. Harts has never been the most threatening shooter. Adding a finger injury, replete with nerve issues, to the equation will almost assuredly, at the very least, inject more variability into his jumper. It might also impact his handle, finishing, and even rebounding.
The Knicks need Hart, but must be prepared to play without him
Hart continues to prove his mettle as a pace-pusher, rebounder, and overall connector while powering through his injury. If his past two games are any indication, he may establish a reliable baseline.
There is also the chance, if not likelihood, that his production remains scattershot. Never mind his availability. He’ll play if he can. But everything from his minutes to his shooting efficiency to the number of rebounds he grabs could fluctuate more than normal.
That is a complicating factor for the Knicks. They already aren’t as deep as they thought, and Hart is the only veteran wing coming off the bench. New York is also working around the injury management of Mitchell Robinson.
Head coach Mike Brown, meanwhile, is being pulled in a ton of different directions as a result. Juggling dual-big units amid Robinson’s load management with five-out spacing looks requires playing Hart and the big man together for stretches. Those minutes have gone horribly so far. They won’t get better without Hart, specifically, sustaining more highs.
Maybe Hart’s hand improves over time. Or maybe he’s just able to play more consistently while managing the pain and discomfort. The Knicks, though, must be prepared for something worse—a version of Hart that, through no fault of his own, cannot be religiously counted upon.