Most of the New York Knicks' championship-winning core is set to return next season. With the exception of Mitchell Robinson, who joined the Boston Celtics, Mike Brown's entire rotation is locked in to defend their title.
While the Knicks' front office added Andre Drummond to help replace Robinson's impact, it's impossible to ignore the current lack of a third-string center. Ariel Hukporti drew more than the minimum from the Philadelphia 76ers and New York has yet to replace him.
Luckily for Mike Brown, the solution to this problem is already on their roster. Unluckily for Josh Hart, he's already made clear that he wants nothing to do with it. Sorry, 3. But it might be time to get down on that block and box out.
Josh Hart has made his positional preferences clear
During the second round of the 2024 Eastern Conference Playoffs, Hart was asked by reporters about potentially warming up to playing power forward for the Knicks. His answer was funny, but also a clear indicator that he's not the biggest fan of bumping and bruising opposing bigs in the paint.
"I'm a shooting guard, I think. I lost an inch. I was 6'5" my whole career, I was 6'4" this year. I don't think a 6'4" power forward sounds good"
It was far from the only time Hart would address his role as a de-facto big man in a negative light. The reason for that, though, was because he'd continue to play it.
Hart's versatility is an integral Knick weapon — and Mike Brown knows it
Even though Hart spent the entirety of the 2025-26 season with a splint on his right ring finger, he backed up his "shooting guard" claim quite literally. He turned in a 41.3% season from behind the 3-point arc on an average of 3.7 attempts per game.
In reality, nobody knows exactly which position Hart plays. The traditional answer is likely at small forward, even though he’s not so much of a threat to take a defender off the dribble and drain a pull-up jumper from the elbow.
Basketball, though, is becoming less about which boxes players fit into. Coaching staffs care more about benefiting from what their personnel does bring to the table — and putting them in positions to show it off.
At the start of his first season in charge of the Knicks, Brown stuck with the starting lineup that had worked most recently — which included Robinson in place of Hart.
While the returns weren't necessarily discouraging, Robinson's in-and-out lineup status as a result of his load management made it tough to justify his starting role. It was likely hard to develop rhythm with a looming guarantee that back-to-backs would change the rotations entirely. While Tom Thibodeau smiled somewhere in the distance, Brown gave Hart his job back.
OG Anunoby is the natural first choice with regard to the starting power forward spot. The wing's strong frame, long arms, and elite defense allow him to guard opposing centers as effectively as players his size. Karl-Anthony Towns, though, just turned in his third-straight season atop the NBA's offensive foul leaderboard. That's not the kind of designation any player wants to earn.
Robinson wasn't always available, but he was one of the league's best bench players. His impact, when New York felt it, inherently justified his absences. And he gave the Knicks a second starting-caliber big man to work with. Now, it'll fall on players like Anunoby and Hart to help balance Brown's lineups defensively.
Drummond is going to need the help, which shouldn't be seen as some indictment of his Knick tenure. Players simply have strengths and weaknesses. By demanding he be switched onto C.J. McCollum in the 2026 postseason, and successfully guarding Victor Wembanyama in spurts later on, Hart showed that his versatility might be his greatest strength.
Brown knows this well. And, even if the 31-year-old isn't a fan, he'll likely have his favorite Swiss Army knife ready to roll. Hart might just literally be rolling, at times, after setting screens.
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