The NBA world found out on Tuesday morning that the New York Knicks' Josh Hart is going to be playing the upcoming season with a splint on one of his fingers. He revealed at New York's media day that he re-aggravated a previous injury over the summer, and the Cleveland Cavaliers are unquestionably going to benefit from this situation.
Now, we obviously would never celebrate an injury to any player. All I'm doing here is making the obvious observation that Hart being less than 100%, given that he's such a big contributor on one of Cleveland's biggest competitors, is going to give the Cavs an advantage.
This kind of injury to Hart is going to threaten to disrupt his shooting mechanics and lessen his overall effectiveness for the Knicks. Josh is a total glue guy in New York, and his impact is felt every time he steps on the court. The implications of this injury are I think a bit bigger than some might realize.
Hart's injury serves to give the Cavs a leg up
Hart being potentially limited in the upcoming season is going to diminish the overall strength of the Knicks' rotation. New York was already having to balance their roster construction with cap limits, and now Josh's injury complicates their ceiling at full strength.
Again, no one should be celebrating an injury here. But rather, Cavs fans can be excited at the ripple effect that this situation will cause. It's always something of a morale boost to know that a rival team is hobbled. Cleveland should feel an added sense of confidence now, knowing that they have that much better chance of winning the conference this season.
Meanwhile, while the Knicks take a half step back, the Cavaliers' roster is in solid shape. The only major rotational piece they lost from last season's 64-win team is Ty Jerome. They'll return all the other major guys and be able to have a good bit of continuity and chemistry carry over. That makes this kind of rival injury that much more impactful for their championship hopes.
With all that said, this still doesn't guarantee anything. An offseason injury to an opposing role player like Josh Hart isn't nearly as impactful as if New York lost Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns. The Cavs still have their work cut out for them, but they'll also take all the little bits of help they can get.