New York Knicks forward Josh Hart voiced his displeasure not once but twice after two of the team’s three most recent losses. Specifically, Hart is seemingly hinting at a potential “individual agenda” issue that’s not allowing the team to flourish.
Hart stated that he felt some of the Knicks’ problems on the court stemmed from players having their “own individual agendas.” These comments came following the Jan. 6 loss to the banged-up Orlando Magic.
“It’s an NBA season; there’s going to be peaks and valleys,” Hart told the media after the loss. “We’ve got to make sure we are focused and give off the right energy. We can’t have our own individual agendas. (We have) to make sure we’re locked in on this team.”
As if that wasn’t enough of a message, Hart did it again after New York’s brutal loss to the Oklahoma City City Thunder just four days later.
“I think we do; we have to go out there with energy,” Hart responded when asked if the Knicks can compete with the top eight teams in the NBA. “We have to go out there with no egos. We have to go out there with no individual agendas. We have to go out there and sacrifice.”
Hart’s vague wording has left fans to speculate as to who on the team he could be referring to, with some thinking the message could be geared towards his backcourt-mate and fellow podcast host Jalen Brunson.
After Brunson’s 44/5/6 explosion in just 29 minutes against the Milwaukee Bucks Sunday afternoon, Hart should be happy with the captain’s production. Either way, New York’s most recent loss—a troubling 124-119 loss to the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden—won’t quell the negative vibes.
Jan. 13, 2025: Final
Sports have an interesting dynamic when it comes to who the most prominent voice in the locker room is. For the uninitiated, it probably seems safe to assume that the best player(s) on a team typically has the most to say, good or bad, to the media after a game.
However, the “locker room leader,” as it has come to be known, is a title that doesn’t necessarily coincide with a player’s ability on the court but rather his ability to rally the rest of the team around them. This is the guy who isn’t afraid to lead by example, do the dirty work, and, most importantly, tell it how it is.
For the New York Knicks, this responsibility usually falls to Josh Hart. In just over two and a half seasons with the squad, Hart has established himself as not only their motor on the court but their most vocal voice off it.