Magic Johnson Congratulates Knicks on Winning NBA Title, Reflects on Drafting Josh Hart With Lakers

Few people know what it takes to reach the NBA mountaintop better than Magic Johnson, and the basketball legend congratulated the New York Knicks for their championship run.

He also highlighted Josh Hart as one of the players he drafted as the president of the Los Angeles Lakers:

Johnson called Hart "one of my favorite players because of how he impacts winning without having to score a point," and that skill set was on full display during New York's NBA Finals victory over the San Antonio Spurs.

Hart went scoreless in Game 2 and reached double figures in just two of the five contests. However, he averaged 9.8 rebounds, 4.6 assists and 1.4 steals per game during the series while playing strong defense and continually crashing the glass on both ends of the floor.

The Villanova product was at his best in Game 1 even though he scored just three points, as he notched 15 rebounds, six assists, four steals and one block to help set the tone in the series.

Knicks-Spurs Highlights

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With Hart doing much of the dirty work and impacting the game in ways outside of scoring, that cleared the way for Jalen Brunson, Karl-Anthony Towns and OG Anunoby to lead the offensive efforts.

And Brunson did just that with a stunning 45 points in the closeout game on Saturday.

As a result, the Knicks—just like Johnson—can call themselves NBA champions.