Josh Hart isn’t considering surgery as he adjusts to his new Knicks life

CHICAGO – Josh Hart will not undergo surgery again. At least not now.

He said it plainly Friday as he continues to troubleshoot the surgically repaired finger on his shooting hand.

Hart doesn’t want to start over by going under the knife again, despite clear frustrations over his poor play this season.

“For me, there will probably be a process until I get full feeling again,” Hart said, “and that hand will be what it is and shoot. … I’m working with [Knicks new shooting coach Peter Patton] all the time and that will happen.

“So yeah, I’m not having surgery.”

The timeline of Hart’s broken finger was unfortunate. He suffered the first injury in May during the playoffs, then played through it — not particularly well — and underwent offseason surgery. A setback occurred during a workout not long before training camp officially opened.

Now he has a splint on his right index finger, discomfort around the hand and the possibility that this will not be resolved without another procedure.

The circumstances have led to speculation that Hart would be better off undergoing surgery as soon as possible so he can be ready for the important part of the season. His scoreless performance on Friday – a 15-minute performance that left Hart visibly dejected on the bench – only reinforced that idea.

But recovery would take months rather than weeks, and there is uncertainty about how his hand would respond to surgery.

Furthermore, Hart remains confident that his shot will be rediscovered over time, and not through another procedure. While it has been poor in the first four games – only 21 percent of the overall field and 10 percent on three-pointers – there are several factors at play. Hart missed almost the entire preseason with a back problem. He learns to adapt to the splint.

And most glaringly, his role has changed dramatically under Mike Brown.

“I feel like I’ve had the biggest adjustment of the entire team,” Hart said. “Just in terms of role, starting, not starting, what the minutes will be like, and I have to know every position, there will be moments when I bring the ball up, there will be moments when I am the five and there will be moments when I am the four.

“So I literally have to know every play from every different position, and it’s one thing to know it in practice and go through it, but when it comes to the tempo of the game, that’s the real test, so I’m still figuring that out and it’s an adjustment. But this is my seventh coach, so I’ve had to adjust a lot in my career, so it should be solid.”

Hart has gone from leading the NBA in minutes under Tom Thibodeau to coming off the bench and playing a role he’s still getting very accustomed to. In the first three games with Brown, Hart played an average of 24.7 minutes (13 minutes less than last season), still trying to influence the win with rebounding, but with fewer opportunities to discover a rhythm of play.

Hart signed for the reduced role, he had conversations with Brown about the minutes, among other things, but understands that he will sometimes have to battle his ego.

“I think it’s going to be a battle all season long, you know, kind of a battle against the selfish view of it. I think I had a good year last year. And you know, with a different role, it’s completely different now. I think the biggest thing is I had to sacrifice my whole career,” Hart said. “I mean, I talked about it all the time last year. You know, that’s something that I try to do every year and try to make sure whether I have to sacrifice or not, to make the team the best that we can be.”

“So it’s never like, okay cool, and it’s seamless. There’s going to be days where I’m like, ‘Man, that’s a bull.’ You know what I mean? But it’s going to be a constant thing about fighting that, but making sure I know it’s what’s best for the team and responding to that.”

Hart also revealed that he wouldn’t be comfortable being the first substitute starter, meaning his role would vary from game to game depending on injuries and decisions that wouldn’t happen until 30 minutes before tip-off. He prefers to remain a reserve. After losing his offseason shooting workouts due to finger surgery, Hart wants to achieve consistency.

And when the shot is falling – especially the three-pointer – Hart tends to stay on the court. We’ve seen it before during his Knicks tenure, as a reserve or as a starter.

Hart believes he can return to that spot without further procedure.

“For me, I knew it was going to take some time,” he said. “Obviously, normally you have the preseason to get the wind under you. So I knew it would take a minute to get back into shape and get my legs under me and be confident on some of those shots. So I thought I’d give myself a week, week and a half grace period before I get too frustrated with myself, but for me it’s still getting into a good rhythm. New role, I have to know one through five, I have to know everything else. So it’s a little bit of a process and I just have to figure it out.