New Knick Josh Hart Defends Former Team Amid Gary Payton II Debacle

Getty New York Knicks wing Josh Hart celebrates a made basket during a game against the Utah Jazz.

The New York Knicks were finally able to unload exiled wing Cam Reddish ahead of Thursday’s NBA trade deadline, ending one of the weirdest (and most unnecessary?) NYC runs in recent memory. In doing so, the team managed to add some wing depth with multitalented vet Josh Hart.

Unlike Reddish, who was hardly given an opportunity in his year with the Knicks, Hart made an instant impact with his new squad, too. In 26 minutes of play against the Utah Jazz on Saturday, the sixth-year pro scored 11 points on 3-of-6 shooting and added seven rebounds, four assists and four steals.

After the game, Hart had a lot to say about his performance and his new situation. However, he also managed to generate a bit of controversy before exiting the press room.

Just as the Knicks’ postgame media availability was wrapping up, Hart made a point to defend his old team, the Portland Trail Blazers, amid accusations of some bad-faith negotiating on their part.

Knicks Wing Josh Hart Makes Heartfelt Statement on the Trail Blazers Organization

The Trail Blazers are in hot water at the moment after the Golden State Warriors accused them of withholding information regarding an injury to Gary Payton II, who was dealt back to the Bay on Thursday.

For Hart’s part, though, the Portland experience was apparently first rate from an organizational standpoint. And he made a point to declare as much on Saturday.

“I just wanna say Portland, as an organization, was great,” Hart told reporters. “[Blazers GM] Joe Cronin’s been great…that organization’s nothing but a class act — in the front office & the training room… That organization is respectful… does everything by the book.”

The issue between the Warriors and the Blazers stems from the fact that Payton failed his physical after getting dealt.

The baller had core muscle surgery during the offseason — an area of his body that has undergone multiple procedures over the years — and wasn’t able to make his debut in PDX until January. Flash forward to now and Warriors doctors are saying he may need to be shelved for multiple months due to the lingering abdominal issue.

Clearly, that’s not what Dubs president Bob Myers had in mind when he traded former No. 2 overall pick James Wiseman away to bring Payton back from the Pacific Northwest.

In the end, the Warriors opted to go through with the trade anyway, but not without filing a grievance with the league office, which is now investigating the Blazers for how they handled the negotiating process.

The Ringer Was Lukewarm on Josh Hart Trade

In his post-trade deadline NBA power rankings, The Ringer‘s Kevin O’Connor left the Knicks in the middle of the pack — but closer to the bottom than the top — at No. 18. And while he didn’t outright pan the Hart trade, he stopped well short of declaring it a rousing success.

Wrote O’Connor:

The Knicks overpaid for Josh Hart by giving up a protected first-round pick and Cam Reddish, whom they dealt a first for last year. But Hart will offer upside if he’s able to rediscover his shot, which has abandoned him this season with Portland. The Knicks are a fine team led by Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle, but even once Mitchell Robinson returns, they won’t be ready to contend.