Should the Knicks Move Josh Hart to the Bench?
This year marks the most successful postseason for the New York Knicks in 25 years. The Knicks knocked off the defending champions and made it to the Conference Finals. One of the key players in last season's success is fan favorite Josh Hart. With the Eastern Conference riddled with injuries and teams breaking up, the Knicks are in a position to dominate the conference this upcoming season. To capitalize on a weakened Eastern Conference, the Knicks are going to have to make some hard decisions, and one of those should be sending Hart to the bench.
The question of whether the Knicks should move Josh Hart to the bench isn’t a case where he isn’t good enough to be a starter. The 30-year-old guard/forward has been fantastic at filling in the gaps of the other starters. He’s a phenomenal rebounder, and in the 2024-2025 season, he had the 20th highest rebounds per game, only getting beaten out by centers and big forwards. His passing game has come in clutch when the offense required Jalen Brunson to prioritize his scoring over playmaking. However, when looking at the potential lineups, the most effective ones need one of the current starters to move to the bench, and Hart makes the most sense.
Brunson and Karl-Anthony Towns are the team’s best scorers; there isn’t a reasonable lineup where both of them don't start. The team just gave Mikal Bridges a long-term contract extension, and it wouldn’t make any sense to give Mikal that much money and not have him start. OG Anunoby is arguably the team's best defender, and in a lineup with both Brunson and KAT, the team needs as much defensive talent as it can get. That would leave one starter spot available, and although fans of Hart would say he’s earned it, it wouldn’t necessarily be best for the team. While KAT has a fantastic season offensively, any fan of his and the Knicks would tell you his defense is seriously lacking. His best defensive seasons were when he played in a double big lineup with Rudy Gobert. Moving KAT down to the four alleviates the responsibility of defending other starting fives, and instead allows him to use his length to guard forwards and help double-team bigs. For that reason, the last starting spot should go to Mitchell Robinson, while not as good of a defender as Gobert, he can help cover KAT’s weaknesses.
Hart moving to the bench doesn’t have to be seen in a negative light. In the recent playoffs, he was moved to the bench, and he took it well, doing whatever was needed for the team's best interests. If Hart were a starter and able to rebound as well as centers and forwards, then matching him against the secondary units of opposing teams could increase his effectiveness. With the firing of Tom Thibodeau, it seems the Knicks organization wants to put more emphasis on playing bench players, and Hart could be the leader of a strong and reliable secondary unit.
