A new coaching regime for the New York Knicks should lead to new approaches to how the ball club operates.
To The Athletic's James Edwards III, this should mean a specific rotation tweak that sends Josh Hart to the bench.
During a recent appearance on The Athletic NBA Daily, Edwards discussed what he believes is the ideal starting lineup for Mike Brown's Knicks in 2025-26, listing the likes of Jalen Brunson, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, Karl-Anthony Towns, and Mitchell Robinson as names who should fill out the first five unit.
Notably, this would mean Hart, who has started 120 out of 183 total regular-season games (65.6 percent) since arriving in New York back in 2023, would be relegated to a reserve role.
Josh Hart may be best suited coming off bench for Knicks
Though Edwards may have openly admitted in the podcast that the veteran is still more than worthy of being a starter, considering his particular set of skills coupled with the needs of the talents around him (namely Towns' need for a defensive-minded center like Mitch paired with him), Hart's services may actually be best utilized in a Swiss Army Knife type of role in the second unit.
Unlike last season with Tom Thibodeau at the helm, the expectation is that coach Brown will look to dip far deeper and more frequently into his bench rotation by comparison.
Considering the offseason additions they made with the signings of both Jordan Clarkson and Guerschon Yabusele, such an approach should be expected.
Of course, even with the revamped second-unit talent pool, Hart could very well prove to be the missing piece to unlocking its full potential.
Clarkson and Yabusele may address the unit's need for extra scoring power (ranked 27 in field goal percentage and dead last in both points last year), while promising sophomore Tyler Kolek should help improve their fourth-worst facilitation game, but each of these players is somewhat limited in the impact they can make outside of these specific areas of play.
Hart, on the other hand, is a talent that can address virtually every area of need in the rotation, as the wing has proven capable of slotting in at any position from the one down to a small-ball four while coming off a campaign where he posted stat sheet stuffing averages of 13.6 points, 9.6 rebounds, 5.9 assists, and 1.5 steals on 52.5 percent shooting from the field.
Sliding Hart to the bench is a move that has the potential to add more lineup versatility, which can be weaponized to best optimize coach Brown's game plan on a game-to-game basis.