Josh Hart wanted to take home the ball from one of the most memorable nights in Knicks history, but the NBA had other plans.
That Game 4 ball was never going to be an ordinary keepsake.
New York had just turned it into a piece of Finals history.
Josh Hart’s Game 4 ball dispute shows NBA auction tension
Hart reportedly picked up the ball after the Knicks’ 107-106 Game 4 win over the Spurs, only for the league to step in because of its memorabilia agreement with Sotheby’s, according to Chase Jordan.
“Josh Hart took the game ball after Game 4. The NBA said not so fast. The league deal with Sothebys provides for certain items to be auctioned off. Many players have been extremely frustrated by it, and as the collectible market has grown and protocols have been put in place, players have been concerned by what they can or can not take.”
It is easy to see why Hart wanted it. The Knicks completed the biggest second-half comeback in NBA Finals history, rallying from 29 down at Madison Square Garden before OG Anunoby tipped in the winner.
That shot may be remembered as the most important in franchise history. It gave New York a 3-1 Finals lead and moved the Knicks within one win of ending a 53-year title drought.
Sotheby’s has since listed the ball as the 2026 NBA Finals Game 4 game-used basketball, calling it The Hand of OG and noting the largest comeback, Anunoby’s winning tip-in, and New York’s Finals-record 14 threes in a half. That suggests the ball was headed for auction from the final horn.
NBA memorabilia rules need a clearer player line
The league and players may need a better answer before this becomes a bigger fight.
Players understand that authenticated memorabilia now carries serious value. Fans and collectors want the real ball, net and jersey from historic games, and the NBA’s Sotheby’s partnership provides a legitimate marketplace for those items.
But players also live those moments. Hart may never again be part of a Finals comeback like that, and a ball from that night would mean something different in his house than it does in an auction catalog.
Jerseys are easier to split because players often wear more than one, meaning the league can auction one while still letting the player keep another. Balls and nets are harder because there is only one true artifact.
Giannis Antetokounmpo had a public game-ball dispute with the Pacers in 2023, and the 2025 Thunder championship-clinching ball also went to Sotheby’s.
The NBA has built a valuable market. Now it has to make sure the players who create the memories do not feel like bystanders in their own stories.
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