Knicks Star Peeved Yet Indifferent to Trae Young Taunt

It’s safe to say that Josh Hart didn’t love Trae Young’s display on the New York Knicks logo on Wednesday night but he’s not letting it linger in metropolitan minds.

Young, the supposedly reluctant villain in the Knicks’ series with the Atlanta Hawks, played up his role as a heel during Wednesday’s showdown at Madison Square Garden.

As time inched closer to the Hawks’ completion of a 108-100 victory, Young mimicked rolling dice as he knelt and stood on the Knicks’ midcourt emblem and pretended to roll dice, referencing the fact that Atlanta was bound for Las Vegas. Wednesday’s win allowed the Hawks to move on to the semifinals of the NBA Cup in-season competition, as they’ll face the Milwaukee Bucks on Saturday afternoon for the right to move onto next week’s finale (4:30 p.m. ET, TNT).

“Do I care that he did it? I don’t know if I care that he did it,” Hart remarked as the Knicks engaged in an off-day practice, per Ian Begley of SNY. “I didn’t like him doing it. At the time, I didn’t see him doing it. But I’m not going to sit here and talk about something that happened two days ago that no one can change.”

Young has been a thorn in the Knicks’ side since 2021, when he posted a five-game masterpiece at the onset of the postseason. He averaged 29.2 points and 9.8 assists in the opening round set, capping things off with a 36-tally output at MSG, which saw him bow to a jeering Manhattan crowd upon the completion.

It was further Garden fury that alerted Hart to Young’s antics but he stressed that the Knicks can’t let the incident prove lasting, even if it is another cursed chapter in their checkered history with Young (who owns a 7-14 record against the Knicks in his regular season career). Hart bluntly stated the Knicks have bigger problems, such as wasting a lead that reached as high as 12 before Atlanta engaged in a second half comeback that included a 34-18 advantage in the third quarter.

“In the moment, I was heated, obviously losing the game, (I) wasn’t paying attention until I heard the crowd getting a little feisty,” he recalled, per Begley. “After that, I turned and looked and I couldn’t see what he was doing. He might have been picking the ball up or something.”

“After that, I looked away and walked away and I guess he did it again. In the moment, I didn’t see it. But like I said, it was two days ago. There’s nothing I could do, he could do, anyone could do that could change what happened.”

Hart did what we could to avoid the Knicks’ dire fate, scoring 21 points on 8-of-12 from the field.

The Knicks consolation prize for falling in the Cup quarterfinal round for the second consecutive season is three days off and a trip to Central Florida, as they’ll face the Orlando Magic on Sunday evening (6 p.m. ET, MSG).

Make sure you bookmark Knicks on SI for the latest news, exclusive interviews, film breakdowns and so much more!