Jason Hart (basketball)

From 1996 to 2000, he attended New York's Syracuse University, where he became the first freshman in the Big East Conference's history to lead it in minutes played.^[1] Later on, he earned other accolades as an NCAA player, such as becoming his college's all-time leader in steals^[1] and second place among assist leaders.^[1] As a senior, Hart made the Big East's All-First Team.^[2] He was also selected to the Syracuse All-Century Basketball team.^[3]

Hart began his career with the Milwaukee Bucks in the 2000–01 season, but he only saw action in one game, scoring two points.^[4]

Starting the 2001–02 season in the newly created NBDL with the Asheville Altitude,^[5] he was called in December by the San Antonio Spurs, appearing in 10 games.^[5] He played in the Greek A1 League with Makedonikos BC in 2002–03, returning to the Spurs for the 2003–04 season, where he played in 53 games, averaging 3.3 points.^[4]

Hart was signed to a three-year, $5 million contract by the Bobcats as a free agent before the 2004–05 season,^[4] and made the first steal in Bobcats history in their first game. Previously, in a 126-125 losing effort in their first preseason game, Hart made a three-point shot as time expired to send the game against the Washington Wizards into a second overtime period en route to 19 points.

In the 2004–05 season, Hart set career highs in many categories including: points per game (9.5), assists per game (5.0), and rebounds per game (2.7).^[4] He finished third in the league in assist-to-turnover ratio, with 3.6 assists for every turnover. After the season, Hart was traded to the Sacramento Kings.^[6]

On March 2, 2007, Hart was waived by the Kings.^[7] He was signed a few days later by the Los Angeles Clippers.^[8] On July 13, 2007, Hart signed with the Utah Jazz on a two-year, $5 million contract.^[9] Originally serving as the backup to Deron Williams, an injury forced him to sit for 8 games.^[10] Ronnie Price's solid play during that time nearly removed him from the rotation.

On July 23, 2008, Hart was traded back to the Clippers in exchange for Brevin Knight.^[11]

On February 27, 2009, Hart was waived by the Clippers.^[12]

On March 3, 2009, Hart was signed by the Nuggets for the remainder of the season.^[4]

On September 28, 2009, Hart signed with the Minnesota Timberwolves.^[2] He was traded to the Phoenix Suns on December 29, 2009, for Alando Tucker and cash.^[13] The Suns immediately waived him.^[13] On February 5, 2010, Hart signed a ten-day contract with the New Orleans Hornets.^[14] Hart's final NBA game was on February 10, 2010, in a 93–85 win over the Boston Celtics. In his final game, Hart recorded two assists and one rebound.

After his playing career ended, Hart coached AAU basketball in Los Angeles and served as head coach at Taft High School in LA.^[15] On May 12, 2012, Hart was hired as an assistant coach at Pepperdine, under head coach Marty Wilson.^[16] In 2013, he joined Andy Enfield's staff at the University of Southern California.^[17] In 2021, he was named the head coach of the NBA G League Ignite, a developmental team for players coming out of high school that played against other teams in the NBA G League.^[18] In March of 2024, NBA G League President Shareef Abdur-Rahim announced that the G League Ignite program would be shut down after the season citing "the changing basketball landscape, including the NCAA's Name, Image and Likeness (NIL) policy and the advent of collectives and the transfer portal" as the main factors.^[19] With the program ending, Hart was out of a job. However, on April 22, he was hired as an assistant coach under Mark Pope at the University of Kentucky.^[20]

Jason Hart was born in Los Angeles, California. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Brandi Hart. They have two sons - Jason Jr. and Justin. Hart's cousin is 2011–12 Syracuse Orange men's basketball player Brandon Triche.^[21]

Legend

GP	Games played	GS	Games started	MPG	Minutes per game
FG%	Field goal percentage	3P%	3-point field goal percentage	FT%	Free throw percentage
RPG	Rebounds per game	APG	Assists per game	SPG	Steals per game
BPG	Blocks per game	PPG	Points per game	Bold	Career high

Regular season

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2000–01	Milwaukee	1	0	10.0	1.000	.000	.000	.0	1.0	.0	.0	2.0
2001–02	San Antonio	10	0	9.2	.526	.000	1.000	1.3	1.2	.7	.1	2.6
2003–04	San Antonio	53	5	12.5	.447	.222	.767	1.5	1.5	.5	.1	3.3
2004–05	Charlotte	74	27	25.5	.449	.368	.785	2.7	5.0	1.3	.2	9.5
2005–06	Sacramento	66	0	12.4	.389	.290	.661	1.1	1.1	.5	.1	3.3
2006–07	Sacramento	13	0	7.7	.500	.500	.909	1.2	.8	.2	.0	3.3
2006–07	L.A. Clippers	23	22	32.4	.438	.174	.889	3.6	4.0	1.8	.0	9.0
2007–08	Utah	57	0	10.6	.322	.355	.844	1.0	1.5	.5	.1	2.9
2008–09	L.A. Clippers	28	2	11.1	.298	.000	.789	1.5	1.5	.4	.1	2.3
2008–09	Denver	11	0	3.3	.500	.000	.750	.4	.5	.0	.0	1.2
2009–10	Minnesota	1	0	5.0	.000	.000	.000	.0	1.0	1.0	.0	.0
2009–10	New Orleans	4	0	4.3	1.000	.000	.000	.5	1.3	.3	.3	.5
Career		341	56	15.5	.417	.315	.788	1.7	2.3	.7	.1	4.8

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Playoffs

More information Year, Team ...

Year	Team	GP	GS	MPG	FG%	3P%	FT%	RPG	APG	SPG	BPG	PPG
2004	San Antonio	7	0	8.9	.550	.000	.000	.4	.1	.7	.0	3.1
2006	Sacramento	5	0	10.4	.308	.000	1.000	.4	.6	.6	.0	2.0
2008	Utah	2	0	3.0	.500	.000	.000	.0	.0	.0	.0	1.0
2009	Denver	9	0	2.1	.500	.000	.000	.3	.6	.2	.1	.2
Career		23	0	6.0	.459	.000	1.000	.3	.4	.4	.0	1.6

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• List of NCAA Division I men's basketball career steals leaders