The Choice Between Playing and Retiring
Josh Hart faced a hard call on his damaged finger – and chose the court. He decided to keep his damaged finger wrapped instead of fixing it with surgery. The only fix available would end his time on the court for good. Hart wrote on X that “There is no other surgery for me to get besides a joint replacement. If I get a joint replacement, I can’t play with it and my career is over. So it will be wrapped until I retire,” per Daily Knicks. This choice shows he values the game more than a perfect hand.
The injury is severe and has hurt him for a long time. Hart sat down with reporters after the fourth day of training camp to explain the mess. The damage was so bad he joked about cutting the finger off as a third option.
Hart said he will wait until he hangs up his jersey to fix the bone. He noted that “There was a lot of stuff that I had to get checked. And that was one of them, and it was just with how, I guess, the joint and the bone deteriorated, and everything is there; then that’s what it’d be. So I’ll do that probably when I retire,” according to Yahoo Sports. Until then, he plays with a splint and hope for the best.
Stats That Prove He Can Still Shoot
Most players would see a broken finger and assume their shooting touch is gone. Hart proved them wrong by posting his best numbers ever. The 2025-26 season was Josh Hart’s career-best regular season three-point shooting, per Yahoo Sports. He converted 41.3 percent of his shots from deep despite the pain and the wrap. His field-goal percentage also hit 50.8 percent, which was his third-best overall efficiency ever.
In that identical year, Hart recorded averages of 12.0 points, 7.4 rebounds, and 4.8 assists. These numbers show he did not let the injury slow down his game. He even dealt with nerve damage in his finger for most of the summer. “And other days, it hurts just to close my hand and make a fist,” Hart admitted in an interview. Yet, he kept hitting shots that required perfect form and timing.
The splint was a constant reminder of the risk he took every night. He said “Hopefully, they can make it straight. It’s a little off-center, if y’all didn’t realize, but I’m hoping that after that joint replacement, it can kind of go a little straighter,” per Yahoo Sports. The stats prove the splint did not stop his accuracy or his drive to win games for New York.
Knicks fans love players who do not make excuses when things get tough. Hart’s decision to play through a career-ending risk sets a high bar for the whole team. He has a finger that is “a little off-center” but he makes it work. Hart said “Yeah, I mean, it’s not the prettiest to look at. I mean, I would love to have a straight finger, but, you know, it works, so, you know. I guess we’ll never know because I don’t think it will get undone,” according to Yahoo Sports.
This mindset fits the culture the team wants to build in Madison Square Garden. It is not about having the perfect body; it is about having the right heart. Hart showed that he would rather suffer through pain than sit on the bench. His willingness to wrap the finger and keep playing inspires his teammates to push harder.
