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To hear Shannon Hart tell it, she almost slept on now-husband Josh Hart.
Because when the future Knicks standout transferred to Washington, D.C.’s tony Sidwell Friends School (alumni include Chelsea Clinton, Malia Obama and Sasha Obama) he wasn’t exactly holding court.
“Everyone was like, ‘Who is this kid?'” Shannon revealed in a New York Times profile last October. “He would show up to class 30 minutes late, walk into the classroom, take off his backpack, lean back and close his eyes and go to sleep in front of the teacher—like the most ridiculous thing I had ever seen.”
Still, she soon found herself huddling up with the 6-foot-5 athlete.
And, roughly a year after they met, the Silver Springs, Md. native decided to shoot his shot, texting to ask the standout soccer player if she liked him, liked him.
Their first date, at the campus’ cafe, the Fox Den, auspiciously took place on November 11, 2011.
“He was sitting there so nervous,” she recounted, “like trembling.” Joked Josh of his previous playing-the-field stance: “I was nervous I had to cut off the rest of the roster.”
But while one could argue that all of their dreams have come true—Shannon and their 3-year-old twins Hendrix and Haze were on hand to watch Josh and the rest of the New York Knicks claim the franchise’s first NBA title in 53 years this past June—their road to forever had more than a few turnovers.
“We won’t lie, during college we had breakups,” the registered nurse admitted. With the Big East Player of the Year leading the Villanova University Wildcats to a 2016 title (roommate and future Knicks teammate Jalen Brunson repeated in 2018) while she took to the pitch at Rutgers University and then the University of Maryland, Baltimore County, “We were on and off.”
Josh Hart/Instagram
But even in those moments they dropped the ball, they were sprinting toward their future as forever teammates.
Noting the splits helped them “learn and grow,” 31-year-old Josh told the Times, “We always ended up back together. We knew in the end what it was going to be.”
After he was chosen in the first round of the 2017 NBA draft, she frequently suited up for the cross-country flight to Los Angeles from the D.C. area, where she was earning her degree at the University of Maryland School of Nursing.
And once he was traded to the New Orleans Pelicans, she landed a job in orthopedics and sports medicine in the Big Easy, Josh celebrating her December 2019 Master’s degree graduation by raving about her plans “to harass me in New Orleans” in an Instagram tribute.
“I love helping people, I love talking to people,” she told E! News of what attracted her to the medical field. “I just like that one-to-one interaction as a nurse. You’re in the room with the person, you’re asking them what they need, you’re helping them with whatever.”
By the time he landed in Portland, they had married at 1 Hotel South Beach in Miami on Aug. 28, 2021.
Months after he rejoined his Villanova teammates (small forward Mikal Bridges was traded from the Brooklyn Nets in 2024, though Donte DiVincenzo was traded to the Minnesota Timberwolves) in NYC, the couple welcomed their twin sons, settling down in Westchester, N.Y. digs complete with a jungle gym and bumper cars in the basement.
“Big village,” she raved to E! of the secret behind her deft ball-handling. “Whether it’s nannies, family, friends, everyone comes together in some way to help and, honestly, it’s the best thing ever.”
Though, of course, Josh remains her MVP.
They’ve been known to uncork a bottle of their Seven Harts wine to celebrate his return from a road trip. And in the off-season, they’re basically huddled up 24/7.
The key to their closeness, he told the Times, “Making time—not trying to find time—but making time for each other.”
And during road trips, “We’re either texting all day or we’ve FaceTimed five times that day,” he recently explained to E! News. “We do a really good job of making sure we’re still connected even though I’m traveling.”
Though their off-season game plan involved several joint getaways, she told E!: “Not having to get up and go all the time, and be here or there. So, that’ll be good.”
Toasting to life throughout Bordeux and Capri, “I’ve been able to do a lot more family time,” Josh acknowledged to E!, “and do things I’m not normally able to do during the season. So it’s been fun.”
Of course their romance isn’t the only one that’s slammin’. Check out more NBA standouts who have scored solid relationships.
(Originally published June 18, 2026, at 6 a.m. PT)
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