{"id":81087,"date":"2024-06-11T09:40:24","date_gmt":"2024-06-11T13:40:24","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=81087"},"modified":"2024-06-11T09:40:24","modified_gmt":"2024-06-11T13:40:24","slug":"thunder-real-interest-signing-unique-shot-blocker-isaiah-hartenstein","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2024\/06\/11\/thunder-real-interest-signing-unique-shot-blocker-isaiah-hartenstein\/","title":{"rendered":"Thunder Have \u2018Real\u2019 Interest in Signing Unique Shot-Blocker"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s presumed interest in signing<\/a> impending free agent Isaiah Hartenstein<\/a> is \u201creal,\u201d per the New York Post\u2019s Stefan Bondy. Indeed, the Thunder could offer the jumbo-sized journeyman \u201ca short-term deal (such as two years) with a high salary, providing both sides with long-term flexibility.\u201d<\/p>\n

Notably, the Knicks can only sign Hartenstein for up to 175 percent of his 2023-24 salary this offseason, as they have his Early Bird Rights rather than his full Bird Rights. As he earned $9.3 million in 2023-24, that means New York can pay him a maximum of $16.2 million annually. That\u2019s all well and good, as it\u2019s a fair number for<\/a> his on-court value. However, the Thunder are projected to have $35.3 million in projected capital max space this summer.<\/p>\n

As a result, they can make a more substantial contract offer than the Knicks.<\/p>\n

Thunder Have \u2018Real\u2019 Interest in Signing Isaiah Hartenstein<\/h2>\n

Money alone may not guarantee that Hartenstein leaves New York. Since his arrival, he\u2019s taken to the city, his teammates, and Knicks head coach Tom Thibodeau. With New York\u2019s famed franchise returning to their competitive ways, he has even more of a reason to stay.<\/p>\n

However, the Thunder have built a winning culture under 2024 Coach of the Year, Mark Daigneault. The camaraderie demonstrated by their young core is endearing, and on par with that of a Knicks core with three former college teammates. Furthermore, Oklahoma City has transformed into a playoff contender themselves. Like New York, they have an MVP-caliber guard in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander<\/a>. Last but not least, they can guarantee him what the Knicks can\u2019t: a more prominent role.<\/p>\n

The Heart of the Dilemma<\/h3>\n

With the Thunder, Hartenstein can be a full-time starter.<\/p>\n

Though Chet Holmgren<\/a> started in 2023-24, it\u2019s clear he\u2019s not a true center. He\u2019s a skilled shot-blocker at 7-foot-1 and is a constant lob-threat. Yet, he\u2019s 208 pounds and takes 40.1 percent of his field goal attempts at least 16 feet away from the rim. His 15.0 percent rebounding rate underscores his lack of size and strength. Ultimately, he\u2019s a hybrid big man who would benefit by playing power forward, letting another player bang around down low.<\/p>\n

At 7-foot-0 and 250 pounds, Hartenstein can be that player. He\u2019s far more likely to get his points in the paint than Holmgren, though he can shoot out to the 3. More importantly, he\u2019s a reliable interior defender and dogged rebounder. In 2023-24, he had a rebounding rate of 18.5 percent, just slightly below Nikola Jokic<\/a> and Anthony Davis<\/a>\u2019s 19.8 percent rebounding rate.<\/p>\n

With the Knicks, he\u2019ll likely only start at center is if Mitchell Robinson<\/a> is sidelined, like he was throughout most of 2023-24. New York\u2019s defensive anchor, Robinson has started in 181 of the 210 games he\u2019s played since 2020-21, playoffs included. Though he\u2019s not quite as adept as Hartenstein in terms of his perimeter defense, he\u2019s a much more impactful shot-blocker. With Jalen Brunson<\/a> unlikely to put ball-handlers in jail anytime soon, his backline defense is a safety net.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder\u2019s presumed interest in signing impending free agent Isaiah Hartenstein is \u201creal,\u201d per the New York Post\u2019s Stefan Bondy. Indeed, the Thunder could offer the jumbo-sized journeyman \u201ca short-term deal (such as two years) with a high salary, providing both sides with long-term flexibility.\u201d Notably, the Knicks can only sign Hartenstein for […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5008,"featured_media":81091,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[22,1608,62,12,3],"tags":[4292,993,1616,297,4557],"class_list":["post-81087","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-thunder","category-basketball","category-nba","category-knicks","category-news","tag-chet-holmgren","tag-isaiah-hartenstein","tag-mitchell-robinson","tag-nba-free-agency","tag-nba-offseason"],"modified_by":"Quenton S Albertie","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81087","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5008"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=81087"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/81087\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/81091"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=81087"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=81087"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=81087"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}