Josh Hart is disavowing Stephen A. Smith’s fandom of his team.
The ESPN personality Smith went viral this week over his harsh comments about the New York Knicks. During an episode of “First Take,” Smith called out Knicks forward Mikal Bridges for supposedly failing to live up to expectations and also name-dropped some of the team’s other players, including Hart.
"If the New York Knicks don't go to the Finals, … We will be looking at this Mikal Bridges deal as the nail in the coffin."
— First Take (@FirstTake) March 24, 2026
—@stephenasmith on the Knicks if they fail to get out of the Eastern Conferencepic.twitter.com/oxzqRoumur
Speaking on Thursday with Steve Popper of Newsday, Hart fired back at Smith. Hart indicated that Smith was not a true fan of the Knicks and went on to tell Smith to “shut the hell up.”
“For me, I think Stephen A., as a part-time Knicks fan, needs to shut the hell up,” said Hart. “He barely knows guys that are on the team.”
Smith, 58, is a New York City native who has long been vocal about his support of the Knicks. But he is also one of the team’s strongest critics and cannot even find something positive to say about them now that they are on an active seven-game winning streak.
Meanwhile, Hart’s jab at Smith here is an extremely fair one. After all, Smith has made some humiliating mistakes about the Knicks in the recent past despite his supposed fandom of the team.
