SACRAMENTO — The numbers are jarring. And for a team with championship aspirations — with the NBA’s second-highest payroll — they’re unacceptable.
The Knicks are 12–3 with Josh Hart in the starting lineup. They went 3-5 in the games he missed following his Christmas Day ankle injury, are 5-5 overall in games he’s missed due to injury, and 8-6 in games he’s come off the bench.
The math isn’t complicated. Neither is the eye test.
Without Hart, the Knicks regress. The ball sticks. The offense slows into stagnant, isolation-heavy possessions that feel familiar in the worst way. With their Swiss Army knife removed from the rotation, the connective tissue disappears — and so does the passing.
“I think probably his play-making, having him out there play-making helps all of us,” Mikal Bridges said after morning shootaround at Sacramento State University’s Hornet Athletic Center on Wednesday. “He looks for everybody, keeps other teams honest.”
On defense, the drop-off is just as stark. Hart’s toughness — his willingness to absorb contact, close space, rotate early, and rebound outside his position — isn’t something the Knicks can replicate by committee. And if this team is serious about contending, that’s a problem.
It’s one the Knicks need to solve.
The most practical solution is also the most obvious: find another perimeter player before the Feb. 5 trade deadline who can defend, make plays and think the game at Hart’s level. Because there is no one else on this roster who can replicate his blend of IQ, grit and athleticism. When removed from the equation, the house of cards at Madison Square Garden collapses in real time.
“He just does so many things for us that are hard to replace as a singular player and we — starting with me — have to do a better job of finding ways to continue to elevate others around us,” head coach Mike Brown said after practice at the Golden One Center on Tuesday. “Not by a ton, but just doing a little extra here, a little extra there. If we can do that, we’ll be a little bit better if he’s out in the future.”
Durability hasn’t been Hart’s calling card by accident. Since arriving in New York at the 2023 trade deadline, he’s been one of the league’s most reliable ironmen. Last season, he led the NBA in minutes per game among players who appeared in at least 64 games. He ranked second only to Bridges in total minutes played and third — behind Bridges and Miami’s Tyler Herro — in total miles run on the court. He’s played in 76 or more games in each of the past three seasons. If he doesn’t miss another game, he’ll finish with 72 this year.
But freak injuries don’t care about track records. Hart entered the season wearing a splint on his right ring finger, dealt with lower back spasms in the preseason opener, then badly sprained his ankle on Christmas — a setback that cost him nearly three weeks and eight games.
In that stretch, the Knicks failed to show they could function at a high level on either end of the floor without him.
“I think it starts with our attention to detail,” Jalen Brunson said after practice Tuesday. “We have a lot of stuff we can be better at on both sides of the ball [if Josh is out]. I have a lot of stuff I can be better at. But it’s the little things — it’s execution, screen-setting, closeout angles. Those things go a long way.”
Hart understands how quickly roles shift when a player is removed from the lineup.
“Everyone’s role is different, so it takes time to adjust,” Hart said. “If I was out a couple more games, guys would probably get more comfortable in those new roles. There’s always a learning period when guys go down. Hopefully, we don’t have to deal with that too much.”
The payroll makes the reliance harder to square.
Hart is the Knicks’ fifth-highest-paid player at $19.4 million, well behind Karl-Anthony Towns ($53M), OG Anunoby ($40M), Brunson ($35M), and Bridges ($25M). Yet his availability has quietly become the line separating wins from losses — and potentially a deep playoff run from an early exit.
Unless the front office insulates itself.
“Just being who he is, bringing that energy, having a Swiss Army knife type of skill set — whatever we need, he’s able to do at a high level,” Towns said after shootaround Wednesday. “He’s an integral part of our team. Having him back is great.”
It is.
But if the Knicks have learned anything this season, it’s that they can’t afford to need Hart this much — and they can’t afford to find that out again in April.
