Isaiah Hartenstein will leave the New York Knicks to sign a three-year, $87 million deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder, according to Adrian Wojnarowski. Hartenstein signed with the Knicks on a two-year, $16 million contract as a free agent in 2022, and the deal proved to be one of the best value contracts in the NBA. Hartenstein was one of the best reserves in the league during the 2022-23, playing all 82 games as the Knicks returned to the playoffs. He then replaced the injured Mitchell Robinson as the starter at center last season and helped the Knicks come within one game of the Eastern Conference finals.
However, the collective bargaining agreement created two significant barriers for the Knicks in re-signing Hartenstein. The first was their own fault. The Knicks signed Hartenstein for only two years in 2022. That meant, from the moment they got him, that they would be limited in their ability to re-sign him because he would only have Early Bird Rights as a 2024 free agent instead of full Bird Rights. Those Early Bird Rights allowed the Knicks to only offer him a 75% raise on his previous salary in a new deal, which amounted to a bit more than $16.1 million next season and $72.5 million over four years.
The Thunder’s deal does not guarantee the third year and it is front-loaded, per the New York Post.
The Knicks then created another issue when they traded for Mikal Bridges before the NBA Draft. Doing so created a hard cap. As the trade is not finalized yet, the exact hard cap is not set, but it will either be at the first apron ($178.7 million) or second ($189.5 million). In either scenario, the Knicks would have to clear a bit of extra money to fit Hartenstein onto their new and improved roster.
All in all, those barriers proved a bit too hard for the Knicks to overcome, and now, Hartenstein moves on as a free agent for the second time in two years. Ironically, the Clippers lost him in 2022 under somewhat similar circumstances. They had previously signed him for a one-year minimum deal, and he only had Non-Bird Rights afterward. The Clippers could only give him a 20% raise, and they used their mid-level exception on John Wall, so he walked for New York.
Now Hartenstein joins a Thunder team that could potentially be the Western Conference favorites. Oklahoma City was just the youngest No. 1 seed in NBA history last season. They added Alex Caruso in a trade with the Chicago Bulls for Josh Giddey, who no longer fit in with their roster. Their only real remaining need was an interior presence. They got one in Hartenstein. He should provide an extra layer of rim-protection and rebounding that they lacked in their second-round loss to the Dallas Mavericks.
Per SportsLine’s projections, the Thunder’s championship chances increased from 8% to 12.1% with the Hartenstein move.
The Knicks will now have to look elsewhere for a second center, and given Robinson’s injury issues, getting that move right will be essential. Hartenstein was one of their most important players last season, but now he moves on to the Thunder with a contract the Knicks legally couldn’t match.
