Sidwell’s two NBA alumni, Josh Hart ’13 and Saddiq Bey ’18, each started this season off on new teams, and these former Quakers are looking at a bright future ahead of them.
Now entering his seventh year in the league, Hart started the 2023-2024 season with the New York Knicks, after being traded by the Portland Trail at the February trade deadline. Hart played 25 games with the Knicks last season and had a remarkable 52 percent success rate shooting from the three-point line. Hart also averaged 10 points and 7 rebounds per game.
Bey has also proven to be a valuable player due to his versatility and reliability. His size makes him a tough cover on the perimeter for the defense, and his three-point efficiency fits well with the Hawks offense.
Towards the end of the regular season, Hart played a large role in the Knicks late-season push for the fifth seed in the Eastern Conference. The team was able to pull out gutsy wins against contenders like the Los Angeles Lakers, Miami Heat and the eventual NBA champions, the Denver Nuggets.
This late-season experience prepared the Knicks for the first round of the playoffs, where they faced the young and talented Cleveland Cavaliers. Hart had a standout performance in Game 4, which changed the course of the series. During that game, Hart had an important offensive rebound down the stretch, along with his 19 points, which secured the win and gave the Knicks a commanding 3-1 lead in the series.
The Knicks won the series in five games, marking the franchise’s first playoff series win in 10 years. Despite the Knicks conference semifinal loss to Heat, Hart’s season was a remarkable success, and his performance in international play and contract extension echoed his in-season achievements.
Hart’s play throughout the end of the regular season and playoffs helped earn him a spot on the 2023 International Basketball Federation (FIBA) USA Men’s Basketball team in July. His strong showing on the court was enough for the Knicks front office to offer Hart a 4-year $81 million contract extension, which he signed on Aug. 10.
This season, Hart hopes to continue his success with the Knicks as he and the team look to make another playoff push in the competitive Eastern Conference. However, Hart has gotten off to a slow start shooting wise, but expects to pick it up. In an interview with the New York Post, Hart remarked “there are going to be good stretches; there are going to be bad stretches. I just can’t harp on the good; I can’t harp on the bad.”
The younger of the two NBA Sidwell alumni, Saddiq Bey, has shown his budding potential since his rookie season with the Detroit Pistons. Similar to Hart, Bey was dealt at the trade deadline in February. Bey joined the Atlanta Hawks, a promising team with other young stars like Trae Young and Dejounte Murray. He attracted interest from many teams at the deadline, as he averaged nearly 15 points per game with the Pistons last season in almost 30 minutes per game, while also being one of the few players in the league to shoot over 40 percent from beyond the arc.
Since his rookie year, Bey has made his mark on the league as a young three-point marksman. Bey earned a spot on the 2020-2021 All-Rookie team and has continued to improve since. The 6-foot-7 forward has already etched his name into NBA history by having the third most three-pointers in a season ever by a rookie.
Bey has also proven to be a valuable player due to his versatility and reliability. His size makes him a tough cover on the perimeter for the defense, and his three-point efficiency fits well with the Hawks offense. Bey has also displayed his commitment to the team this season saying during the media day, “I’m ready for whatever the team and organization needs on both ends of the floor.”
So far, Bey is averaging 12 points per game, along with a career-high 6 rebound average per game. Bey will be an important part of the Hawk’s performance this season, and with both his three-point shooting ability and size and strength, he is likely to build upon previous success this season.
