When Knicks level guard Jalen Brunson was requested if Josh Hart had modified a lot within the eight years they’d recognized one another, he feigned exasperation and rapidly mentioned no. Then a bit of smile crept onto his face.
“He’s still a 2-year-old,” Brunson mentioned. “Loves candy. It’s like having — he’s older than me — it’s like having a little brother.”
This was all information to Hart, additionally a Knicks guard, who countered that Brunson, too, has not modified a bit since faculty.
“He’s a child, that’s what he is,” Hart mentioned. “He’s the child. I’m like the parent.”
The playful ribbing belies a relationship that was nurtured at Villanova and has remained sturdy at the same time as the 2 have taken divergent paths within the N.B.A.
Brunson, 26, was a freshman at Villanova in 2015-16 when Hart, 28, was a junior and so they gained an N.C.A.A. championship collectively. Hart made it to the N.B.A. a yr later as a first-round decide for the Lakers in a draft-day cope with the Jazz. The subsequent yr, it was Brunson’s flip: The Mavericks drafted him within the second spherical. While Brunson spent the following 4 years in Dallas, Hart performed on three completely different groups.
This yr, Brunson joined the Knicks in free company and has blossomed right into a star who has helped carry the workforce to its finest report since 2013. Hart arrived in February in a commerce from Portland and has introduced a tenacity off the bench that has helped the Knicks end the season with optimism regardless of working by accidents.
Hart and Brunson can have very completely different however vital roles for the Knicks, the fifth seed within the Eastern Conference, as they put together for a first-round sequence towards the Cleveland Cavaliers, which begins on Saturday.
“I think that they had a mutual respect for each other just because they’re competitive assassins,” mentioned Kyle Neptune, Villanova’s males’s basketball coach, who was an assistant coach on the workforce from 2013 to 2021. He added: “They have just a sense of humanity and a sense of purpose and being good human beings. But then when you get them both on the floor they’re just absolute killers.”
The methods Hart and Brunson have excelled with the Knicks mirror who they have been as gamers in faculty.
Brunson was in a position to join effectively along with his teammates again then, too.
“His ability to adapt to new people is partially because he’s the son of a player and a coach that moved around like a military family,” mentioned Baker Dunleavy, who was an assistant coach for Villanova from 2010 to 2017.
He remembered Brunson having a way of professionalism early on that was uncommon for somebody his age.
But, like he did in his N.B.A. profession, Brunson needed to wait earlier than he might take possession of Villanova’s locker room. Jay Wright, the previous longtime Villanova head coach, remembered sensing that Brunson was a bit uncomfortable in his first yr and that he held again a few of his management means as a result of the workforce already had some extent guard — Ryan Arcidiacono, who was a senior on the time. The subsequent yr, Brunson appeared extra comfortable as he took on a management function.
“A born leader and just a guy that loved having everybody count on him,” Wright mentioned.
Hart had been named essentially the most excellent participant of the Big East event throughout his sophomore yr, and was a third-team all-American his junior yr. He generally shocked his coaches with the audacity of the photographs he took, however they fortunately accepted the outcomes.
Wright recounted a number of examples of Hart making huge performs in high-pressure conditions: regular-season video games towards top-ranked opponents, pivotal Big East event matchups and N.C.A.A. event video games.
“You just kind of knew this guy fears nothing,” Wright mentioned.
And he did love sweet. Once, throughout a pause in one in every of Hart’s highschool practices, Dunleavy noticed Hart attain right into a sock, pull out a bag of bitter sweet and tilt the bag so a couple of items fell into his mouth as if he was taking a sip of Gatorade.
Villanova careworn the significance of fine vitamin for his or her gamers, Wright mentioned, however he was positive Hart discovered a method to conceal sweet within the locker room.
“Don’t even get me started,” he mentioned.
Wright described Hart as extra carefree than Brunson, and Brunson as a bit of extra mature.
Brunson spent his first 4 seasons with the Mavericks. He joined the Knicks as a prized free agent final summer time, a few month after the workforce employed his father, Rick Brunson, who had labored with Knicks Coach Tom Thibodeau earlier than as an assistant coach.
The Knicks have been penalized a second-round draft decide in 2025 for starting free agent discussions with Brunson earlier than the league allowed.
Brunson had been an rising participant in Dallas, taking part in alongside Luka Doncic, however he has thrived being featured extra with the Knicks. His per-game scoring common has risen to 24 this season from 16.3 final season, and he’s dishing 6.2 assists per sport in comparison with 4.8 final season.
Part of what has made him match so effectively with the Knicks is the combination of humility and confidence with which he performs and leads.
“He’s an honest leader,” Knicks middle Mitchell Robinson mentioned. “He knows when he’s right and he’s wrong, so he’s not afraid to admit stuff like that. And you kind of need that.”
Robinson mentioned Brunson texted him final summer time to affix him in New York for low season exercises. He didn’t know Brunson earlier than that, however they rapidly developed the rapport of longtime mates.
Hart has had an impact on his groups by his versatility on protection and on hustle performs — rebounding, chasing free balls. He was traded twice earlier than arriving in New York, first to the Pelicans as a part of the deal that despatched Anthony Davis to the Lakers, after which to Portland.
For most of this season, Hart relished Brunson’s success from afar.
“I think he kind of exceeded everyone’s expectations but his own,” Hart mentioned, including: “For me it’s just cool because I’ve seen all the work that he’s put in to get to this level.”
On Feb. 8, their paths converged.
Brunson was at Villanova for a ceremony to have his faculty jersey retired. Someone confirmed him the information on a telephone that the Knicks had traded for Hart. Brunson shouted an expletive after which mentioned “YESSS!” as he raised his arms victoriously. The folks round him began to clap.
“Like his big brother was coming home from college or something,” Wright mentioned. “He was so excited. It was genuine, you know. After he saw, he just still kept walking around like: ‘I can’t believe it. I can’t believe. I can’t believe we have Josh. I’m so pumped we got Josh.’ He didn’t stop the whole night.”
Hart, who had his personal jersey retired by Villanova in 2022, had simply spoken with Brunson that morning.
“Neither of us, obviously, had any idea that was going to happen,” Hart mentioned. “I texted him just about congrats on getting the jersey retirement. And he actually didn’t even say thank you.”
In New York, Hart slot in instantly. He is now making higher than 50 p.c of his 3-point makes an attempt, the place in Portland he made solely a 3rd. His scoring has gone up, regardless that his minutes have gone down. The Knicks went on a nine-game successful streak beginning with the primary sport Hart performed for them.
“I think his game could fit in well anywhere just because of all the things he does,” Thibodeau mentioned. He added: “There’s no agenda other than winning. If you’re open, he hits you. If we need a big shot. He’s what I call a playmaker. Whatever the game needs.”
Now, Hart and Brunson typically do their postgame interview periods collectively, buying and selling off questions if one in every of them will get stumped. They sit collectively on the workforce airplane, and, based on Robinson, inform inside jokes that their teammates don’t perceive. Together, they may attempt to assist this Knicks workforce turn into the primary in a decade to win a playoff sequence.
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