Last offseason, Josh Hart underwent surgery on the ring finger of his right shooting hand. The surgery meant Hart played with that finger wrapped up all of last season for the New York Knicks.
Hart still has his finger wrapped, and didn’t have further surgery on it this offseason, Steve Popper of Newsday reported. Hart responded to Popper on Twitter by adding context:
"Just so I don’t got to answer this question anymore,” Hart wrote. “There is no other surgery for me to get besides a joint replacement. If I get a joint replacement, I can’t play with it and my career is over. So it will be wrapped until I retire.”
The route Hart is choosing surely beats the alternative. Any Knick fan will tell you that.
Wrapped finger clearly wasn’t a concern last season
While fans shared their concerns before last season tipped off, those concerns proved to be unwarranted. Playing with the ring finger wrapped all last season didn’t seem to affect Hart much, if at all. The 31-year-old shot 41.3% from 3-point range, easily a career high and well above his 34.2% career mark entering the year.
Oh yeah—he and the Knicks won a championship. Obviously, his ring finger being wrapped up didn’t cause Hart to have a subpar season. Overall, in the 2025-26 regular season, Hart averaged 12.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, and 1.1 steals while shooting 50.8% from the field. Sure, those averages dropped from 2024-25, but the head coaching change from Tom Thibodeau to Mike Brown also saw Hart play seven minutes less per game.
It also didn’t affect how Hart played, as he looked like the same player with a high motor. Pushing the ball up the floor on fast breaks, diving for loose balls, and crashing the glass better than anyone else his size, Hart still played his typical, high-effort game. The finger didn’t hold him back at all in that regard.
The only time Hart missed a chunk of time last season wasn’t because of his right ring finger. He sprained his ankle during a Christmas Day win over the Cleveland Cavaliers, and that injury forced Hart to sit out the next eight games.
Hart may not match his 3-point accuracy from last season in 2026-27. The 3-point shooting did drop to 32.6% during New York’s 19 playoff games in 2026. Otherwise, Knicks fans should have no worries regarding Hart’s finger because he already showed last season that it won’t be a problem.
That joint replacement surgery can wait until Hart’s career is over. Hopefully, that career ends with the Knicks. Hart has a team option for about $22.4 million in 2027–28, and he is currently extension-eligible, as are Karl-Anthony Towns and Miles McBride.
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