The NBA preseason kicked off on Thursday with the Knicks and Sixers facing off in Abu Dhabi as part of the league's international preseason contests. It took almost no time at all for the exhibition contest to become eventful.
Early in the second quarter New York do-it-all forward Josh Hart crashed to the floor after grabbing a defensive rebound and appeared to be injured. There was no obvious contact that would have caused anything but Hart hit the ground regardless and stayed down for a few minutes in some pain. Upon hitting the floor Hart chucked the basketball into the stands, presumably in frustration.
That act earned him an ejection, the first of the NBA preseason.
Josh Hart gets hurt, throws ball, thrown out pic.twitter.com/M0XCP3lAq5
— New York Basketball (@NBA_NewYork) October 2, 2025
Hart was able to walk back to the locker room.
It was an unfortunate sequence for the Knicks. Hart is a fan favorite and critical to how the team plays. Every contender needs at least one player who is willing to do the dirty work every minute they are on the floor and Hart fits that description to a T. No role is too small for him to embrace and the lineup combinations his skillset allows new head coach Mike Brown to use grants New York important versatility.
Hopefully it's nothing serious and Hart can laugh with his teammates about getting ejected less than one half into the new NBA season.
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This article was originally published on www.si.com as Josh Hart Earns First Ejection of NBA Preseason for Chucking Ball After Getting Hurt.
