Apr 21, 2025; New York, New York, USA; New York Knicks guard Josh Hart (3) reacts during the third quarter of game two of the first round of the 2024 NBA Playoffs against the Detroit Pistons at Madison Square Garden. Mandatory Credit: Brad Penner-Imagn Images Brad Penner-Imagn Images

Preseason Injury Could Keep Star Out of Knicks Opener

Originally posted on New York Knicks on SI
By Geoff Magliocchetti | Last updated Oct 21, 2025 2:26 PM ET

The New York Knicks might not have the Hart for their regular season opener.

As the hours dwindle toward the Knicks' 2025-26 season opener against the Cleveland Cavaliers, the defending Eastern Conference finalists may be dealing with further medical woes in the form of Josh Hart: per head coach Mike Brown in video from SNY, neither Hart nor center Mitchell Robinson took to the practice floor for the final prep for the Cavs' visit.

The Knicks continue to handle Robinson with caution, subjecting the oft-injured yet serviceable tenured center to load management after he missed more than half of last season with ankle woes that carried over from the year before. But the status of Hart is slowly becoming another medical conundrum, one that threatens to eat away at team health while facing a vital start to the campaign.

Josh Hart Brad Penner-Imagn Images

"Josh is a little different than Mitch," Brown said. "We're trying to figure out his back, which is a tricky situation, so we have to be careful with it. We don't want to rush him ... We'll be patient and figure it out as we go along."

Hart played but seven minutes this preseason before injuring his back and being subjected to a questionable ejection in the Knicks' preseason opener in Abu Dhabi earlier this month. Reports from Knicks camp have routinely labeled him "day-to-day" ever since, but the relative inactivity has insider Ian Begley of SNY a little more concerned about his status.

"I just assumed that he would be back by now based on what I had heard in the aftermath of that back injury," Begley said on his web series "The Putback." "You have to question whether you're going to have him [against Cleveland] and how bad that injury actually is, because if it was as minor as it was described in the aftermath, he would've been practicing by now and scrimmaging by now at the very least."

"Maybe it's a game of possum here that the Knicks are playing with Josh Hart and with the Cavs and he'll be out there and ready to go on Wednesday. But the idea that he's not ...scrimmaging, not taking contact at this point, it's concerning."

The fate of Hart was one of the top storylines of the preseason, as many wondered whether he would reprise the starting role he held most of last season before giving way to Robinson during the Eastern Conference Finals against Indiana. New York went with the "two-big" set in three of the five preseason starting fives, pairing Robinson with fellow seven-footer Karl-Anthony Towns, with Hart coming off the bench in his lone exhibition showing.

This article first appeared on New York Knicks on SI and was syndicated with permission.

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