New York Knicks guard Josh Hart turned a strange clubhouse joke into a viral celebration on Thursday, during the team’s championship parade in lower Manhattan. Hart and his wife, Shannon Hart, danced provocatively on top of a truck, then Hart posted a video of the moment on X with the blunt caption, "Yea I'm in there tonight ??" and a clear reference to the end of the long playoff stretch.
The post was a direct callback to a joking request made by Knicks owner James Dolan on April 3, just before the playoff run began. Dolan told players, "I have an idea that maybe you should give up sex for the next 10 weeks. You don't really have to give it up, but like the Spartans, you know who the Spartans were? They deprived themselves of pleasures to gain an edge. Get that edge."
There is no way to know whether any Knicks players actually followed the supposed abstinence challenge, but Hart made it the unofficial punchline of the title festivities. When teammate Jose Alvarado was asked this week whether the team had really gone 10 weeks without sex, he burst out laughing and replied, "Oh, man. Oh, man."
Now that the alleged ban has expired, the Knicks can finally relax, especially with a championship ring to add to their jewelry collection. The only looming side effect mentioned is the possibility of a wave of paternity leaves around March, about nine months from now.