Jason Hart (basketball)

Jason Hart
Kentucky Wildcats
Position	Assistant coach
League	SEC
Personal information
Born	April 29, 1978 (age 46); Los Angeles, California, U.S.
Listed height	6 ft 3 in (1.91 m)
Listed weight	185 lb (84 kg)
Career information
High school	Inglewood (Inglewood, California)
College	Syracuse (1996–2000)
NBA draft	2000: 2nd round, 49th overall pick
	Selected by the Milwaukee Bucks
Playing career	2000–2010
Position	Point guard
Number	1, 3, 5, 6, 7, 11
Coaching career	2011–present
Career history
As player:
2000–2001	Milwaukee Bucks
2001–2002	Asheville Altitude
2001–2002	San Antonio Spurs
2002–2003	Makedonikos
2003–2004	San Antonio Spurs
2004–2005	Charlotte Bobcats
2005–2007	Sacramento Kings
2006–2007	Los Angeles Clippers
2007–2008	Utah Jazz
2008–2009	Los Angeles Clippers
2008–2009	Denver Nuggets
2009–2010	Minnesota Timberwolves
2009–2010	New Orleans Hornets
As coach:
2011–2012	Taft HS
2012–2013	Pepperdine (assistant)
2013–2021	USC (assistant/associate head coach)
2021–2024	NBA G League Ignite
2024–present	Kentucky (assistant)
Career highlights and awards
	First-team All-Big East (2000); Third-team All-Big East (1999);
Career NBA statistics
Points	1,623 (4.8 ppg)
Rebounds	567 (1.7 rpg)
Assists	774 (2.3 apg)
	Stats at NBA.com
	Stats at Basketball-Reference.com

Jason Keema Hart (born April 29, 1978) is an American basketball coach and former professional player who is currently an assistant coach for the University of Kentucky.

College career

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]

NBA career

Hart joined the NBA 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 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.^[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.

Coaching career

After his playing career ended, Hart coached AAU basketball in Los Angeles and served as head coach at Taft High School in LA. On May 12, 2012, Hart was hired as an assistant coach at Pepperdine, under head coach Marty Wilson.^[15] In 2013, he joined Andy Enfield's staff at the University of Southern California.^[16] 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 plays against other teams in the NBA G League.^[17] 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.^[18] With the program ending, Hart was now unemployed. On April 22, Hart was hired as an assistant coach for Mark Pope's University of Kentucky Wildcats.^[19]

Personal

Jason Hart was born in Los Angeles, California. He is married to his high school sweetheart, Brandi Hart. They live with their two sons Jason Jr. and Justin. Hart's cousin is 2011–12 Syracuse Orange men's basketball player Brandon Triche.^[20]

NBA career statistics

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


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

Playoffs


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