NBA Rumors: Isaiah Hartenstein, Thunder Agree to $87M Contract After Knicks Exit

Isaiah Hartenstein has cashed in on his breakout 2023-24 season with a deal from the Oklahoma City Thunder.

According to Shams Charania of The Athletic and Stadium, the Thunder will sign Hartenstein to a three-year, $87 million million contract.

Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN confirmed the two sides had come to terms on a deal.

Hartenstein spent the past two seasons with the New York Knicks. He took over as their starting center last season due to Mitchell Robinson's injury issues. The 26-year-old averaged 7.8 points and 8.3 rebounds in 75 games.

Head coach Tom Thibodeau used Hartenstein in the starting lineup for 49 games. He entered the season having started a total of 12 games in his first five NBA seasons combined.

The Knicks entered this offseason in a great spot after a thrilling playoff run. Hartenstein and OG Anunoby were their biggest free-agent questions.

It seemed unlikely Anunoby would be going anywhere after the Knicks traded RJ Barrett and Immanuel Quickley to acquire him from the Toronto Raptors in December.

Hartenstein's future was a bit more uncertain simply because Robinson is under contract through 2025-26. Given the concerns about Robinson's durability—he's played more than 70 games only once in six seasons—there seemed to be a strong possibility Hartenstein would return.

Thibodeau relied on Hartenstein more than ever throughout the 2023-24 season. He averaged a career-high 25.3 minutes per game during the regular season. His usage increased to 29.8 minutes per game in the postseason.

Hartenstein has been a terrific player-development story since entering the NBA in 2017. He was a second-round draft pick by the Houston Rockets and played sparingly in two seasons with the club before signing with the Denver Nuggets as a free agent in November 2020.

The Nuggets traded Hartenstein to the Cleveland Cavaliers four months later. He appeared in 16 games for the Cavs, then signed with the Los Angeles Clippers in free agency.

Hartenstein's stellar offensive rebounding last season made him a very attractive big man on the free-agent market.

Oklahoma City was able to present Hartenstein with an offer that was too good to pass up. He will enter 2024-25 in a new place yet again, but he can be an impactful starter for a team with playoff aspirations.

After losing in the second round of the playoffs, the Thunder wasted no time addressing their primary needs. It started when general manager Sam Presti traded Josh Giddey to the Chicago Bulls for Alex Caruso.

Caruso's defensive versatility and shooting touch—he connected on 40.8 percent of his three-point attempts last season—will make him an ideal fit for Oklahoma City.

Now, Presti has pulled off another significant move by addressing the Thunder's need for size in the paint. Among teams that made the playoffs, they averaged the second-fewest total rebounds per game (42.0) and offensive rebounds per game (8.8) during the regular season.

Hartenstein averaged nearly one-quarter percent of the Knicks' offensive rebounds just on his own last season (3.3 per game). His ability to attack the glass on both ends of the floor should create more scoring opportunities for a team that already has one established superstar in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and another budding superstar in Chet Holmgren.

In a loaded Western Conference with 13 teams that can reasonably be expected to compete for a playoff spot next season, the Thunder's moves this offseason have made them arguably the deepest team in the field.