Josh Hart never envisioned his basketball career going like this.
Maybe he’d become an NBA player. That was the best-case scenario.
Second-best case?
A podcaster, like his “Roommates Show with Jalen Brunson,” but full-time, and as a fan, not an athlete.
“Obviously that was the goal — to be an NBA player — but for me, realistically, it was something in communications, being around basketball, talking trash hopefully on a talk show or radio or something like that,” Hart said on Tuesday, just moments after making NBA history. “I didn’t envision this. This is more than I ever dreamed or hoped for. Never envisioned it but the Lord opens doors that you don’t know are possible.”
On Tuesday night, Hart’s career exceeded his wildest dreams. He has officially taken his rightful place in Knicks basketball lore.
Hart finished with 16 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists in Tuesday’s win over the Dallas Mavericks. The performance marked his ninth triple-double of the season, surpassing the longtime mark of eight held by franchise legend and MSG Networks color commentator Walt Clyde Frazier, whose record stood for 55 years.
“They had video right? When he was playing? They had video?” Hart asked at his locker after his record-breaking performance. “Nah, I haven’t [watched Frazier film]. That’d be something to do, maybe I’ll do it at some point.
“But nah, I didn’t know they had video when he was playing. I thought it was all just written down.”
Hart’s stats, too, are now written down in the Knicks history books.
The fact that he broke a Hall of Famer’s record as a role player who was once unsure of his trajectory as an NBA player speaks volumes on the impact Hart is having this season with the Knicks.
“Well, I think any time you can get a record it is pretty special because of the greatness of this league. And then, to do what he’s doing, it’s a testament to what he’s put into it. Also, his teammates and feeding off each other,” head coach Tom Thibodeau explained after the game. “It’s hard to describe what he is to the team, because he’s at times a facilitator, he’s a rebounder, he’s a pace guy, he’s a hustle guy. And then at the end you just look at how he’s done a number of things that help you win.
“Like tonight, I thought the effort plays unites and inspires the team. When you get those type of plays, it becomes contagious and you get everyone flying around.”
Hart was not the only player to record a triple-double on Tuesday night.
Knicks All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns also posted his third career triple-double with 26 points, 12 rebounds and 11 assists against the Mavericks.
Towns and Hart became the first Knicks players ever to record a triple-double in the same game.
“He got 9. I got one,” Towns said at his locker after the game. “So he’s doing a much better job than me at getting triple doubles. But the way he does it is special. It’s all energy and effort, and it’s for the betterment of the team.”
“It means KAT went out there and passed the damn ball and got guys involved like we know he can do,” Hart added. “It’s cool. I think I was in LA four, five years ago when [Le]Bron and Lonzo [Ball] did it, and watching that I thought that was something really dope. Now full circle I’m in that same situation with KAT. It’s really dope, it’s a a blessing. Hopefully we can carry that on and do more.”
Hart now has 15 career triple-doubles. All have come since his arrival in a 2023 midseason trade from the New Orleans Pelicans to the Knicks.
“I’m just happy Josh gets stats on the sheet that show the impact he’s making on the game because I feel like there’s much more stats that don’t show up on the stat sheet that he does for our team,” Towns continued. “So I’m happy he’s having this moment where the effort, the sacrifice and the work he puts in for our team to be the best version of ourselves, it’s showing up on the stat sheet so he can get his respect, his accolades and all the cheers going on for him because he deserves it.”
Three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and former MVP Russell Westbrook have triple doubled as teammates twice for the Denver Nuggets this season. Jokic and Jamal Murray also recorded simultaneous triple doubles in Game 3 of the 2023 NBA Finals against the Miami Heat. And LeBron James also accomplished the feat with Westbrook on the Los Angeles Lakers in December of 2021 against the Houston Rockets.
Before them? Dennis Smith Jr. and Mason Plumlee were the obscure pair of teammates who last recorded a triple-double in the same game.
The pair of Knicks stars on Tuesday night marked the 20th occasion in NBA history teammates have posted a triple double.
“It’s not an easy thing to do. It’s an all-around game. The game really dictates what you should do,” Thibodeau said of the feat. “Because of the personnel [the Mavericks] had, they were doing a lot of switching one through five. If you stand and hold that can be problematic.”
With 11 assists apiece from Towns and Hart, plus another nine off the bench from rookie Tyler Kolek, the Knicks recorded 40 assists as a team, five short of their season-high 45 on Nov. 25 against the Nuggets.
“I thought we moved very well without the ball, so to get 40 assists, and I thought some of the turnovers we were able to force got us in the open floor,” Thibodeau continued. “We had 27 fastbreak points. So those things are big. And then, we know we have to play better on both sides of the ball.”
Hart said he gave the game ball to rookie Kevin McCullar, who missed a large chunk of his freshman season recovering from surgery to repair a bone bruise on his left knee. McCullar made his Knicks debut and made his first shot with less than three minutes left in the fourth quarter against the Mavericks.
“For me that’s an easy decision. That record is cool and a blessing, but at the end of the day, that record’s going to get broken at some point. Hopefully, later rather than sooner.” said Hart. “But that’s going to get broken. Getting your first NBA points, nobody can take that away from you. It’s important that he had that, got the game ball for that. That’s an easy decision for me.”
That selfless act isn’t the only embodiment of Hart’s meaning to this Knicks team. He broke Knicks history by beating all five Mavericks players to a loose ball off the offensive glass for rebound No. 10.
“Is that how I got it?” he asked. “Okay, cool, good. Yeah, man, I guess that epitomizes my game, getting it in a hustle way.”
Not bad for someone who thought he’d only amount to podcasting — even if he still has a podcast.
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