Isaiah Hartenstein leaves Knicks, signs 3-year, $87 million deal with OKC Thunder
Published in Basketball
And then, it was just Mitch.
Despite owning home-court advantage in contract negotiations with free agent center Isaiah Hartenstein, the New York Knicks lost a key member to last season’s miraculous playoff run.
Hartenstein agreed to a three-year deal worth $87 million with the Oklahoma City Thunder, securing a massive payday after a two-year stint with the Knicks.
And he secured more than the Knicks could offer: New York owned Hartenstein’s Early Bird rights and could offer no more than a maximum of a 75 percent raise on his 2023-24 salary, or a four-year, $72.5 million deal.
The average annual value of the Knicks’ best offer came in at $18.1 million.
Hartenstein will earn an average of $29.16 million to join Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Chet Holmgren on a title contender out West.
The Knicks are now down to just Mitchell Robinson and Jericho Sims as center options on a team they hope can compete with the Boston Celtics, Philadelphia 76ers and Milwaukee Bucks to represent the Eastern Conference in the NBA Finals.
Which could be a problem because Robinson is coming off of a season including not one, but two surgeries on a left foot that sustained a stress fracture in December.
In fact, Robinson’s injury is responsible for Hartenstein’s payday.
Hartenstein assumed the starting role shortly after Robinson left the rotation, and he thrived as a scorer, rebounder and play-maker, anchoring the paint for a Knicks team ultimately securing the Eastern Conference’s No. 2 seed.
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