Recently, the New York Knicks received an injury scare when Josh Hart exited their recent preseason game with a back injury. The injury forced Hart to miss the Knicks' second preseason game against the Philadelphia 76ers on Saturday, and had some fans wondering if it could impact his availability heading into the regular season.
Hart's official diagnosis was back spasms, per a team representative, who also spoke on what went into the decision to keep him out of Saturday's contest.
“It’s preseason and we’re going to err on the side of caution,” they said, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. “We’ll see where he is when [we get home].”
The Knicks have almost a full week between preseason games.
An interesting Knicks team
The New York Knicks are never going to get a better opportunity to go to the NBA Finals than the one they will have this year, with the Eastern Conference seemingly wide open due to injuries to Boston Celtics star Jayson Tatum and Indiana Pacers star Tyrese Haliburton, who helped send the Knicks home in last year's Eastern Conference Finals.
While the main rotation is set, head coach Mike Brown, who took over for the controversially fired Tom Thibodeau, still has some lineup experimentation to do before the team decides on who will occupy its final roster spots.
“Trying to see different guys we’ve signed with different combinations,” Brown said. “And putting them in at different — I may throw a guy in for three minutes. And if I throw him in for three minutes, part of that is I may use him that way in the regular season or I may use him that way if he makes the team in the regular season. So how does he respond? So I’m experimenting right now.”
As of now, Garrison Matthews, Malcolm Brogdon, and Landry Shamet are all competing for one spot.
In any case, the Knicks will take the floor for their preseason home opener on Friday against the Minnesota Timberwolves. Their regular season will begin on October 22 against the Cleveland Cavaliers.
