Five weeks ago, during his marathon end-of-season press conference, Oklahoma City Thunder general manager Sam Presti explained why they didn’t trade for a big man during the season. Many observers thought they should have, since the Thunder were not strong on the glass, but by only playing bigs Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams together for “2.5% of our possessions,” Presti said, “we got a top-five defense, so I wouldn’t want to lose the outcome of a top-five defense in pursuit of trying to find the next Wayne Embry.”
This was no disrespect to Embry, the Hall of Famer nicknamed “The Wall” who set bone-crushing screens and could box out anybody. He is one of Presti’s mentors. The point was that, despite finishing the regular season ranked No. 27 in defensive rebounding percentage, Oklahoma City was still an elite defensive team. It didn’t have the sheer size of, say, the Minnesota Timberwolves or Orlando Magic, but it had tons of length, speed and switchability. No team forced more turnovers, and no team held opponents to a lower field goal percentage at the rim. Beyond that, the benefit of playing Holmgren at the 5 was obvious: The Thunder, an average offensive team in 2022-23, were the third-most efficient team in the NBA.
Presti said that they had to “be careful,” especially in-season, not to assume that they could “just keep all the good parts” of the formula that worked so well “and bring the floor up on something else.” He also, however, said that they’re not “trying to prove anybody wrong,” suggesting that, if they saw an opportunity to add a big man who would make them better, they’d do it.
“We’re looking for the players that help us maintain our strengths and would raise the floor on our limitations,” Presti said.
Evidently, Presti and his front office believe Isaiah Hartenstein is such a player. On Monday, Oklahoma City signed the 7-footer who broke out with the New York Knicks last season to a three-year, $67 million contract, as first reported by The Athletic’s Shams Charania. (The contract is front-loaded, and Year 3 is non-guaranteed, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post.) This is a big bet on a guy who was drafted No. 43 seven years ago, spent his first pro season (and much of the next two) in the G League, bounced around the NBA after that and has never been an opening-night starter. Because of Hartenstein’s skill set, though, it could pay off enormously.
On defense, what Hartenstein brings to OKC is straightforward. He’s more equipped than Holmgren to guard burly 5s, he’s one of the league’s best drop-coverage practitioners and he’s as prepared and communicative as any backline defender. When he was on the court last season, New York rebounded 74.4% of its opponent’s misses, which is identical to the Sacramento Kings‘ league-best defensive rebounding percentage. He finished second in defensive estimated plus-minus, per dunksandthrees.com. Between his arrival and the recent addition of Alex Caruso (fourth in defensive EPM), the Thunder have gone from a top-tier defensive team to an absolutely terrifying, potentially historic one.
Oklahoma City didn’t lose its second-round series against the Dallas Mavericks because of defense, though. It lost because, as Presti said, it “dropped off significantly offensively,” which he called “the surprise of the postseason.” In six of the Thunder’s 10 postseason games (including their first-round sweep against the shorthanded New Orleans Pelicans), they scored 108.2 or fewer points per 100 possessions. That number is worse than the Charlotte Hornets‘ 28th-ranked regular-season offensive rating.
On the surface, expecting Hartenstein to improve the offense seems a bit strange. If any team subscribes to the offense is spacing, and spacing is offense philosophy, it is Oklahoma City. Even before Holmgren stepped on the floor, coach Mark Daigneault ran a 5-out offense and tried to overwhelm opponents with drive-and-kick after drive-and-kick. In a career-high 1,896 regular-season minutes last season, Hartenstein attempted three 3-pointers and made one of them.
Hartenstein, though, is the kind of player that makes you ponder weird questions like,”What’s the difference between shooting and spacing?” For years, he has been at his best offensively when used as a facilitator. If you’ve heard color analysts or podcasters reference “Delay” action, they’re simply talking about setting up in a 5-out alignment and passing the ball to the center at the top of the key. Hartenstein thrives in this situation; he’s not Nikola Jokic, but he did learn a thing or two when he was Jokic’s backup.
This is relevant because, in the playoffs, Presti thought the Mavericks were the superior passing team. “Regular season, I think you can win with the dribble,” he said. “Postseason, I think you win with the pass.” Against great defensive teams, particularly ones that aren’t scared to cheat off of the Thunder’s perimeter players, they needed to diversify their attack. Hartenstein’s passing will open up other ways to generate advantages.
The passing is only one part of Hartenstein’s offensive game, one that he didn’t even get to show off that often with the Knicks until they traded two of their playmakers and they lost an All-Star to an injury. Oklahoma City, the NBA’s third-worst offensive rebounding team last season, has added an elite offensive rebounder who has a particular knack for tapping the ball out to a teammate. It has added its best screen-setter since Steven Adams and a player who will make defenses think twice about blitzing Shai Gilgeous-Alexander — as well as making quick, smart reads in the short roll, he has incredible touch on his floater.
Crucially, when Hartenstein isn’t acting as a handoff hub or rolling to the rim, he does not just stand around and clog things up. He might start a possession stationed in the dunker spot, but he’s always reading the play, moving around and making himself available. “Relocation” is a term usually associated with guards like Stephen Curry scurrying around on the perimeter to hunt 3s, but it’s also how Hartenstein gets a lot of his dunks and floaters. Think of the easy buckets that Cason Wallace was able to find in the paint last season when OKC was not playing 5-out, then imagine if Wallace were nine inches taller.
Back when he was a Houston Rockets development project, by the way, Hartenstein was seen as a potential stretch 5. He has never attempted 3s at a particularly high volume — he shot 14-for-30 in his one year with the Clippers and just 8-for-37 in his first year in New York — but it shouldn’t be shocking if the Thunder encourage him to let it fly every once in a while. At this point in his career, Hartenstein has proven that he can add juice to an offense without taking any 3s at all. Perhaps the security he has earned will help him shoot them with confidence.
If Presti does nothing else, the Thunder might have already had the best offseason of any team in the league, let alone any contender. This signing, along with the Caruso trade and the team-friendly contracts they negotiated with Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins, position them as a more adaptable, playoff-ready team than they were last season, with internal development to come and plenty of flexibility in the future. In contrast, for Hartenstein’s former team, his decision raises all sorts of questions. While the Knicks can’t be faulted for not matching the money Oklahoma City offered — they literally weren’t allowed to do that — failing to re-sign Hartenstein means they will look a lot different next season.
New York wanted to keep Hartenstein. With OG Anunoby back on board and Mikal Bridges joining the party, it could have conceivably fielded a team that was overflowing with All-Defense types who don’t need the ball all the time but can relieve pressure on Jalen Brunson. Now the Brunson-Hartenstein pick-and-roll is done, and there appears to be lot riding on the health of Mitchell Robinson, who has had two surgeries on his left ankle since hurting it last December. Robinson is a better lob threat than Hartenstein and an even better offensive rebounder, but, even if he puts his injury woes behind him, he can’t be the kind of connector that Hartenstein was.
Assuming the Knicks don’t have another big blockbuster in them — like, say, a Julius Randle trade — Robinson will be the starting center. Jericho Sims isn’t going to be the backup, though, is he? In theory, New York could still re-sign Precious Achiuwa, even though it decided not to issue him the qualifying offer, and it should at least look at free agents like Moe Wagner (the dream outcome, in my opinion), Goga Bitadze, Xavier Tillman and Daniel Theis. Leon Rose’s front office doesn’t have a ton of flexibility, though, and its salary-cap situation will depend on how the Bridges trade, which won’t be completed until after the moratorium, is structured.
From a strictly financial perspective, one could argue that even paying Hartenstein the four years and $72.5 million it offered wouldn’t have been ideal for the Knicks. It’s not surprising that they’re watching him walk, and acquiring Hartenstein in the first place is one of many moves that have demonstrated their ability to find undervalued gems. If this is disappointing, though, it’s because of the way that Hartenstein fit with the group, particularly in the latter half of this past season. He was a promising playmaking 5 when he got to New York, and then he blended the finesse parts of his game with the brute-force stuff that Tom Thibodeau requires from his bigs. For the same reasons that he’s the type of center that can actually enhance what the Thunder have been building, he’s the kind of center that could have tied the next iteration of the Nova Knicks together. Now they’ll have to figure something else out.
