As the old saying goes, once a Laker, always a Laker. Josh Hart is proving that saying correct after joining the New York Knicks, making every Los Angeles Lakers fan proud in the process.
Hart was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans as part of the Anthony Davis trade and was eventually traded to the Portland Trail Blazers as part of the CJ McCollum trade. While Hart was still playing like a valuable rotation guy, the full potential that Lakers fans saw in LA was not being realized.
The New York Knicks decided to trade for Hart at this year’s NBA trade deadline to reunite him with former Villanova teammate Jalen Brunson. The results have been fantastic since adding Hart (the Knicks haven’t lost) and it has been particularly fun for LA fans to watch from a distance like proud parents watching their children succeed in college after moving away.
The best part about Hart’s success is how he has taken it to the Boston Celtics. Hart might have already cemented himself as the second biggest sports villain in Boston behind Aaron Judge. On Sunday, Hart had a controversial play on Jayson Tatum that has knocked him out of action on Monday, causing smoke to bellow from Celtics fans’ ears.
Tatum out tonight cause of this Josh Hart play, and no foul was even called pic.twitter.com/GkK84DjkKc
— I 😵💫‼️ (@Ibra_Goat) March 6, 2023
This is not the first run-in with Tatum that has Celtics fans fuming with Hart. In another Knicks’ win last week, Hart openly mocked Tatum after he was ejected from the game. Just like someone in the purple and gold would do it.
Josh Hart could take the Knicks’ winning streak all the way to LA against the Lakers.
While it has been really fun to watch Josh Hart become an enemy of Boston sports fans, Lakers fans are going to have to root against their former player here soon. Los Angeles hosts New York on Sunday and with how things are going, the Lakers may have a chance to snap the Knicks’ winning streak.
New York has won nine games in a row and while they have some challenges coming up, they absolutely cold be winners of 12 in a row by the time they play the Lakers. The Knicks play the Charlotte Hornets, Sacramento Kings and Los Angeles Clippers before playing the Lakers.
The Knicks will be favorites against the Hornets and Clippers with the road game against the Kings being a toss-up. If they can win that game then we might indeed see a 12-game winning streak on the line against the Lakers.
Fans just have to hope that Hart isn’t up to his same antics when he is playing his former team. It is very entertaining to see this happen to the Celtics. But if Hart checks Anthony Davis like that and it results in an injury then there is going to be a problem with Lakers fans.