Josh Hart has heard the noise around Jalen Brunson all season — the questions about whether a 6-foot-1 guard can be the best player on a championship team — and as the New York Knicks prepared for their NBA Finals meeting with the San Antonio Spurs, he made it clear he has no interest in entertaining it.
"I don't really care what people say," Hart said. "I'm not going to base my judgment or evaluation of him as a player off people that never played the game and just never been in that situation. I know he doesn't really care about it, I don't really care about it. At the end of the day, those quote-unquote people are irrelevant."
The Knicks reached the Finals for the first time since 1999, and the matchup hands New York the league's signature defensive problem: Victor Wembanyama, the unanimous Defensive Player of the Year. For Hart, the prospect of being guarded by the 7-foot-4 Frenchman was something to embrace rather than fear.
"The only unanimous Defensive Player of the Year is guarding me," Hart said. "So I think that's a good sign for me, right? Means I'm a pretty good basketball player."
It fit a familiar theme for a player who has built his reputation on doing whatever a game requires.
"I don't value what I do based on other people's game plan or what the box score says," he said. "I go into the game and I play the game the way the game needs me to play. If that's shooting or scoring, cool. If that's rebounding, defending, cool."
Hart also pushed back on the idea that reaching the Finals changes the team's routine. New York, he said, has leaned on the same unglamorous habits since the opening round.
"When you're building championship habits, it's very boring and it's very meticulous and it's frustrating at times. But it never changes," Hart said. "It doesn't change now that we're in the Finals."
Veteran guard Miles McBride struck a similarly respectful but unintimidated tone when sizing up the Spurs, a roster stacked with young talent around Wembanyama.
"All glory to God, but they're a special team," McBride said. "They have a Defensive Player of the Year, a great organization, and a lot of great young guys. We're just excited for this matchup."
The challenge of slowing Wembanyama, McBride said, would be a collective one rather than a solo assignment.
"You've got to figure out how to get them out of the paint, how to run them," he said. "He's a special player, so we just have to contain them as a team."
McBride was just as wary of San Antonio's backcourt, a group that includes De'Aaron Fox and rookies Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper.
"They're relentless," McBride said of the Spurs guards. "They're young. They have that mentality of just go out there and scrap and make it a tough game."
Hart echoed the warning, cautioning that the attention on Wembanyama could leave New York exposed elsewhere if the Knicks are not careful.
"You can't sleep on guys like De'Aaron, Castle, Harper, Champagnie, because if you do that, this will be a long series," Hart said. "We've got to give those guys the respect that they deserve and come out focused."