Billy Joel may be getting ready to end his Madison Square Garden residency, but Josh Hart is just starting his.
The Knicks shooting guard is finalizing a four-year, $81 million contract extension to keep him in New York, and teammate Jalen Brunson is expecting to get dinner – and perhaps a few drinks – out of it.
“Pick up that tab tonight nephew @joshhart,” Brunson tweeted Wednesday following the news of Hart’s new deal.
Hart, 28, and Brunson, 26, are currently playing together on Team USA ahead of the 2023 FIBA World Cup.
The two also won an NCAA championship together in 2016 with Villanova University.
Hart, who will pocket $94 million through the 2027-28 season, picked up his $12.9 million player option in June, making Wednesday the first day he was eligible to extend his contract.
The two sides got it done fast, locking in a key piece in the Knicks’ run to the Eastern Conference semifinals last season.
Hart tweeted an orange and blue heart Wednesday on Twitter, all but confirming his extended run at MSG.
Hart seemingly always wanted to stay a Knick.
“Opting in, I was gonna take it one day at a time. We get there and then we can start having that conversation. Hopefully — that’s a place where I want to be and a place I want to call home. So we’ll see,” Hart said last Thursday before the deal was done.
“I felt like it was home when I got there … So now I’m just excited to be in the Garden for a full 41-plus, hopefully. And just having that New York vibe, that New York energy behind us.”
The six-year NBA veteran posted productive numbers in the 25 regular season games he played for New York after arriving in February in a deadline trade from Portland, averaging 10 points and seven rebounds per game.
Hart, while forming a strong tandem with new teammate Immanuel Quickley, shot 58 percent overall and 52 percent from beyond the arc for the Knicks before the postseason.
The Lakers’ 2017 first-round pick will be reunited with another college teammate, Donte DiVincenzo, this season after the Knicks inked him to a four-year deal in July.
