Josh Hart says he wants to stay with the Knicks long term, even as an extension negotiation and the team's salary cap situation play out this summer.
Josh Hart is not shy about where he wants to finish his career.
Caroline Fenton of Yahoo Sports asked the New York Knicks guard point blank whether he saw himself staying in New York for the long haul, and Hart did not seem worried.
He is entering the final guaranteed season of his current deal, and an extension has become the biggest offseason story attached to him since the team's championship run ended.
Hart Makes His Feelings Known
Hart's current contract is a four year deal worth eighty million dollars, and this season is the last one on the guaranteed money.
He became eligible this summer for a new four year extension worth up to 132 million dollars.
When Fenton asked if staying in New York mattered to him, Hart left no room for doubt.
"Yeah, absolutely," Hart said.
"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."
That is about as clear an answer as a player can give a reporter.
Hart started every game of the playoff run this spring and handled the unglamorous work that turns a good team into a champion one.
Money Could Complicate Things
The tricky part is what a new deal costs the roster around him, not what Hart wants.
New York wants to keep this championship group together as long as it can, and ownership has shown little appetite for pushing the team over the luxury tax's second apron, a line that brings real roster restrictions once a team crosses it.
That means Hart could end up settling for less than his full number, and The Athletic's James Edwards has reported that ownership is unlikely to pay him the max.
Hart has kept his sense of humor about it, joking in one recent report that he would take 131 million instead of the full 132.
A Roster Built to Run It Back
None of this happens without the rest of the roster falling into place.
ESPN projects New York to finish atop the East again this season, largely because the front office chose to keep its core together instead of chasing change for its own sake.
Landry Shamet and Jose Alvarado are both back, and the team added center Andre Drummond over the summer for extra depth in the middle.
Hart's own numbers explain why keeping him mattered so much.
He grabbed 7.4 rebounds a game last season, a relentless number that never shows up on a highlight reel but shows up in the win column.
The Knicks won 53 games in the regular season before winning the whole thing, and having that group mostly back together is why an extension for Hart keeps getting called a front office priority.
Hart already weighed in on how the conference is shaping up around the 76ers adding LeBron James, and he sounds like a player who wants this group to finish what it started.
Camp will show how it all fits together, and how the Hart talks end will say plenty about what this front office values most.
