"Leave me alone": Josh Hart hilariously deflects explanations about viral sideline clip vs. Cavaliers

Josh Hart continues to showcase his importance to the New York Knicks as one of the team's most versatile defenders on the court. Playing in his ninth season in the league, Hart is steadily averaging 6.0 points (36.4% shooting, including 31.3% from 3-point range) and 6.8 rebounds.

During the Knicks' recent 95-89 loss to the Cleveland Cavaliers, Hart was seen on the bench imitating a certain action that resulted in him going viral on social media. The incident was uploaded on X (formerly Twitter) by the Bleacher Report's Jake Brown.

As NBA fans quickly reacted to Hart's trending moment on the sideline, the Knicks guard addressed it by hilariously deflecting it.

"Leave me alone," Hart said. "I can't explain myself without getting in trouble."

From Josh Hart's X post, he obviously didn't want to find or place himself in an awkward situation with his reaction. His careful choice of words, while remaining hilarious, was the best way to do it given the context of the viral sideline clip.

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Josh Hart talks about trade rumors involving Donovan Mitchell

Donovan Mitchell remains one of the best scorers in his position throughout the league. After putting up incredible numbers in the five seasons that he has played for the Utah Jazz, he followed that up by having a career year with the Cleveland Cavaliers in his first season with the team.

In the 2022–23 regular season, the Cavaliers star averaged 28.3 points (48.4% shooting, including 38.6% from 3-point range), 4.4 assists, and 4.3 rebounds per game. He previously signed a five-year, $163 million contract back with the Utah Jazz, which has been transferred over to the Cavaliers.

Interestingly, Mitchell's name is still involved in trade rumors and is even linked to the New York Knicks, as per ESPN's Andrew Lopez. However, the rumors also included Josh Hart in the mix. Hart said that the rumors were "never going to go away," as per an article from The New York Post by Stefan Bondy.

"Those [rumors] are never going to go away," Hart said. "He's from New York. New York is never going to let that go away. So you'll never know what happens. That's for the future, that's for Knicks Twitter to talk about, and have rumors about, and put up stats of God knows what. But everyone knows that will be an underlying thing."

From Hart's comments, he is aware that Donovan Mitchell is from New York and also happens to be a career 24+ point per game scorer.

Despite all the trade rumors, Josh Hart continues to provide excellent production on the court for the New York Knicks. He had one of his best seasons when it came to shooting the rock efficiently during the 2022–23 season. In the 25 games that he played for the Knicks last season, he put up 10.2 points (58.6% shooting, including 51.9% from 3-point range), 7.0 rebounds, and 3.6 assists per game.