Josh Hart somehow turned the New York Knicks’ first NBA Cup celebration into something nobody saw coming, and now the NBA world can’t stop laughing about it.
The Knicks had just beaten the San Antonio Spurs 124–113 in Las Vegas. Confetti was falling as Jalen Brunson was named the NBA Cup MVP, and Karl-Anthony Towns was lifting the trophy. And then Hart went off the rails.
As Towns lifted the trophy, Hart apparently shoved his thumb straight up Brunson’s backside on live television. Brunson, who was stunned, immediately turned back to stare at Hart, and the clip went viral in minutes. Slow-motion replays made it even worse, or better, depending on how your sense of humor is.
NAH MAN THIS IS INSANE
Josh Hart shoved his thumb up Jalen Brunson’s butt during the Knicks’ NBA Cup trophy celebration 😭😭😭
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) December 17, 2025
Social media reacted exactly how you’d expect, as fans were ruthless.
One joked, saying Hart “saw the opportunity and took it.”
Another asked, “Did he just put his thumb in that man’s booty hole?!”
Someone else called it the “Hitchhiker 3000 on live television.”
A few other fans claimed that Hart appeared to sniff his thumb, which only added to the chaos.
The phrase “you can’t be doing this on the main stage” summed up the general disbelief.
Hart, of course, leaned into it instead of running from it. First, he tried to play dumb on X, claiming the clip was “AI.” That excuse lasted about five minutes. Once people started posting crystal-clear angles of the moment, Hart admitted defeat with another post: “Damn in 4k…..😂😂😂”.
The moment somehow got even funnier during the postgame press conference.
When asked about Brunson’s greatness, Hart said:
“Inch for inch I think he’s probably the best.”
Josh Hart on how good Jalen Brunson is:
“Inch for inch I think he’s probably the best”
THEY WILDING 😭😭
pic.twitter.com/1OwRetpwz8 https://t.co/4nQK4OirNW
— Hater Report (@HaterReport_) December 17, 2025
Brunson immediately broke down laughing, and so did everyone else in the room. It was the perfect button on a moment that had already gone completely off the rails.
Hart and Brunson are not just teammates. They go all the way back to Villanova, where they won the 2016 NCAA championship together. The duo has a podcast together, and have a chemistry that is unmatched. That doesn’t mean fans weren’t shocked, but it does explain why Brunson didn’t react with anger. His response was more ‘bro, really?‘ than anything else.
Still, the timing made it unforgettable. This was not a random regular-season win. This was the Knicks’ first trophy since 1973, a moment that should have been remembered for Brunson’s 25 points, OG Anunoby’s 28, and a dominant fourth quarter. Instead, Hart’s thumb hijacked the entire narrative.
That’s the Josh Hart experience in a nutshell. He plays hard, talks constantly, lives for chaos, and somehow always ends up at the center of viral moments. Knicks fans have embraced it because it reflects the team’s personality: loose, confident, and completely unbothered by outside noise.
