OG Anunoby is rumored to be on the verge of making his return to the New York Knicks rotation this Friday following a nine-game, injury-induced hiatus. With this, many are wondering what might be in store for their starting lineup and, more specifically, what impact the forward's reintroduction will have on Josh Hart's role.
According to NBA insider Ian Begley, the answer to this latter question is likely not much.
During a recent appearance on Knicks Fan TV, Begley shared that he would be "surprised" if head coach Mike Brown were to slide Hart back to the bench once Anunoby is back in the fold, given his tremendous production coupled with the team's overall success since entering the first five lineup.
"My strong assumption is that Josh Hart stays [in the starting lineup]," Begley said. "Just given how Hart's played and given how solid he's been as a starter, you go back to how many games they've won with him as a starter, I do think they stay that way."
Josh Hart likely to remain a starter for Knicks with OG Anunoby back
Since coming to New York mid-way through the 2022-23 campaign, Hart has established himself as a beloved, Swiss Army Knife rotation player who can have an impact on virtually every aspect of the game.
However, since being thrust into the starting five amid the club's slew of injury woes in 2025-26, the 30-year-old has arguably shed his "role player" moniker and has turned himself into one of the Knicks' true breakout stars.
Over this ongoing six-game stretch, Hart finds himself absolutely stuffing the stat sheet with electrifying averages of 17.0 points, 10.3 rebounds, 6.7 assists, and 2.2 steals while shooting an incredibly efficient 52.2 percent from the floor and 43.8 percent from distance.
Throughout this stretch, the veteran ranks first in the league in both net rating and plus-minus (minimum 150 minutes logged), while, most importantly, the Knicks have gone 5-1 and have climbed their way back into the second seed in the Eastern Conference standings (14-7 overall on the year).
Prior to the widespread injury bug chomp fest that took down Anunoby and Landry Shamet in a matter of days, New York was regularly rolling out a starting five of Jalen Brunson, Miles McBride, Mikal Bridges, OG Anunoby, and Karl-Anthony Towns, with Hart serving as their super sub sixth man.
While there's a case to be made that the wing's versatility may still be best utilized off the pine once New York gets all their studs back to full strength, as his all-around skill set could be an incredibly elite spark plug to have waiting in their reserves, Begley believes that, at least in the immediate future, Hart's status as a starter isn't likely to change anytime soon.