Jalen Brunson Couldn’t Hold Back When He Found Out His College Teammate Josh Hart Was Traded To The Knicks

With the NBA trade deadline ending today at 3:00pm, we’re going to have exciting news happening all day. Teams are trying to make that final move to upgrade the roster before for what they hope is a deep playoff run. One of them being the New York Knicks who went out and made a trade with the Portland Trail Blazers according to NBA insiders. Knicks PG Jalen Brunson couldn’t contain his excitement when he found out they’d traded for his college teammate Josh Hart. 

Reports had been out for weeks now that the Knicks were trying to find a trade partner for Cam Reddish. They successfully did that in a trade for Portland’s Josh Hart and gave away Reddish, Ryan Arcidiacono, Svi Mykhailiuk, and a protected 2023 first-round pick.

At seventh in the East right now, Hart could be a solid addition to the Knicks bench and could make starts here and there if needed. New York Sports Betting sites have the Knicks at (+20000) to win the Finals this season.

Jalen Brunson found out he was reuniting with Villanova teammate Josh Hart moments after his college jersey was retired 💙

(via @Capj1344) pic.twitter.com/Qz0qvR3Z1s

— ESPN (@espn) February 9, 2023

Josh Hart is headed to the big apple to play for the New York Knicks

This is now the second year in a row that Josh Hart is being dealt at the trade deadline and that’s not a bad thing depending on how you see it. One team is letting him go but that means another values him enough to want to make the trade. Hart was traded from the Pelicans to the Trail Blazers last season and this year he goes from Portland to the New York Knicks.

In 51 games played and started for the Knicks this season, Hart is averaging (9.5) points, (8.2) rebounds, (3.2) assists, and (1.1) steals per game. His rebounds and minutes per game (33.4) are both career-high’s. Hart is an extremely underrated rebounder in this league. A six-foot five guard doesn’t normally average over eight rebounds per game.

Those type of rebounding numbers usually happen for power forwards and some larger small forwards. That shows the versatility to his game and it was likely a factor that drew the eye of New York. Cam Reddish was traded to the Blazers in this deal and he’ll look for a fresh start out West.

Reddish is still so young in his NBA career and just needed a change of scenery. He’d fallen out of the rotation for head coach Tom Thibodeau and hasn’t played since 12/3. The tenth pick in the 2019 NBA draft is in the final year of his rookie contract and will be a free agent this summer.