New York Knicks forward Josh Hart played the entire 2025-26 NBA season with a splint on his right ring finger, and it looks like that might remain the case for the rest of his career. Hart has been dealing with a nerve injury in his right hand, but told Posting and Toasting he doesn’t plan on fixing the issue anytime soon.
“No, I’ll let it go,” Hart said. “At the end of my career, when I’m done hooping, I’ll probably have to get a joint replacement in it, but for now it’s fine.”
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Hart had suffered this injury in May 2025 during the playoffs and underwent surgery after the Knicks lost to the Indiana Pacers in six games in the Eastern Conference Finals. That should have been that, but it flared up again before the start of training camp last year.
Another operation would have kept Hart, the No. 30 pick in the 2017 NBA Draft, out of action for about three months, something he wasn’t keen on. So the 31-year-old chose to play through the injury, which also has him losing sensation in his middle and pinky fingers at times.
Hart then had a pretty rough start shooting the ball in the 2025-26 season. Through his first five games, he shot 31.0% from the field and 14.3% from beyond the arc. It might not have looked like the smartest decision to play with this injury at the time.
Fortunately for Hart, the shots would eventually start falling, and he had quite an efficient campaign. He averaged 12.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, 4.8 assists, 1.1 steals, and 0.3 blocks per game, and shot 50.8% from the field and a career-best 41.3% from beyond the arc.
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Hart then helped the Knicks end their 53-year title drought as they took down the San Antonio Spurs in five games in the 2026 NBA Finals. It would have been the greatest moment of his career.
Now, this offseason presented Hart with the opportunity to have that operation without missing any game time. His teammate Jalen Brunson played through a left wrist injury in the playoffs and underwent surgery this summer. This is often the option players take, but Hart is going the unconventional route.
Josh Hart On His Future With The Knicks
While this has been a summer of celebration for the Knicks and their fans, tough decisions will have to be made in the next year or so. They will have to part with a key piece or two because of the second apron, and Hart made it clear he wants to remain a Knick.
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“Yeah, absolutely,” said Hart on whether he wants to remain in New York. “I’ve always said New York is a home for me. And they’ve given me some of the best years of my career. So it’s definitely a place I want to stay at and hopefully retire at.”
The Knicks had acquired Hart from the Portland Trail Blazers in February 2023. They gave him a four-year, $81 million extension later that year, and he now has two years left on his contract. The last is a $22.3 million team option for 2027-28, though, so this is a situation to keep an eye on.
Hart has actually been eligible to sign a four-year deal worth as much as $132 million since Aug. 10, but it’s safe to say the Knicks aren’t giving him that deal. He’ll have to compromise a fair bit if he is to finish his career in New York.
