American basketball player Josh Hart played 81 regular season games for the New York Knicks this season, averaging 9.4 points, 8.3 rebounds and 4.1 assists. With Hart as the team’s second leading scorer with 22 and 21 points, the New Yorkers have opened the playoff tournament with two wins over the Philadelphia 76ers.
Hart became a college basketball star at Villanova University, located in suburban Philadelphia. Tonight is the third game in the series between the Knicks and the 76ers, which will take place in Pennsylvania. Local reporters asked Hart before the upcoming game if he was disappointed when the 76ers missed out on drafting a quarterback in 2017. Hart revealed that he was truly shocked.
“I wanted to go there (to Philadelphia). They had the 25th pick. They drafted and kept a European guy whose name I can’t even pronounce. That was where I wanted to be. I wanted to go down that street. Unfortunately, they took draft and stash. I was a little shocked that the 25th pick came and it wasn’t me,” Josh Hart said.
The Sixers passed on all the Villanova champions in the draft. Josh Hart said today he was “bummed” they didn’t take him with the 25th pick (he went 30th to the Lakers):
“I wanted to go here. They were at 25. They did a draft-and-stash, some European guy that I can’t pronounce…
— Stefan Bondy (@SbondyNBA) April 25, 2024
The Latvian center Anžejs Pasečniks was meant by the player whose name the American Hart cannot pronounce. It was him with number 25 that was seen by the Philadelphia “76ers”, who made a trade with the Orlando “Magic”, giving up the first and second round draft picks to get the right to the slim Latvian player.
Pasechnik did not play for the Philadelphia “76ers” after two years, the Pennsylvania team waived the rights to the center player. During his NBA career, Pasechnik played 28 games for the Washington Wizards, averaging 5.6 points per game.
Josh Hart was selected with the 30th pick and went to the Los Angeles Lakers. The 29-year-old guard also represented the New Orleans Pelicans and the Portland Trail Blazers during his career, but the player was traded to the New York Knicks during last year’s trade period.