When the New York Knicks won Game 5 of the NBA Finals against San Antonio on Saturday, shooting guard Josh Hart became the third Eagle Scout to win an NBA championship.
Hart scored 13 points and pulled down 11 rebounds in New York’s 94-90, come-from-behind victory to close the series four games to one. Hart joins former players Bill Bradley and Mark Madsen in the exclusive club of Eagle Scout champions. Hart earned Scouting’s highest honor in Troop 1083 of Rockville, Maryland.
In numerous articles throughout his career, Hart credited Scouting for helping his NBA career flourish. Most recently, he was featured on the site Basketball Network and told the story of attaining his Eagle just before his 18th birthday, keeping a promise to his dad.
On Scouting featured Hart in May 2019 when he surprised Pack 1323 and Troop 1323 in Los Angeles by dropping in one of their meetings.
“For me, it was always, OK, I had the discipline in Scouting,” he told the Scouts. “When you’re camping somewhere, you’re backpacking, you’re in the woods, you have to be disciplined. You have to be able to take direction. You have to take criticism. And you have to do that in the right manner.”
After winning the 2016 NCAA national championship at Villanova University, Hart made his NBA debut with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2017. A first-round draft pick, Hart played for three teams before joining the Knicks in 2023.
In the 2024-25 season, he led the NBA in minutes played per game, averaging 37.6.
In New York’s run to this year’s NBA Finals victory, Hart finished 16th in the league by shooting 41.3% from the 3-point line.
In 2016, On Scouting shared Philadelphia Scouter Ed Lynes’ story about Hart. The interview was conducted before Hart and Villanova won the national championship, making it even more significant when Hart said that Scouting helped him get there.
“You don’t get Eagle Scout by just showing up,” Hart said in the interview. “You gotta put a lot of work in. Gotta sacrifice a lot of time. Put in a lot of weekends. Doing that taught me how to get serious, put my head down and go to work.”
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