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Much like his teammates, Isaiah Hartenstein seemingly found a long-term NBA home in his brief time with the New York Knicks. Originally signed to a two-year, $16 million deal following the 2021-22 season, Hartenstein emerged as one of the best backup centers in the league before successfully taking over as a starter this past year.
After playing for five teams in six NBA seasons, Hartenstein may be looking into settling in with a Knicks franchise that’s poised to compete, has great locker room chemistry and will want to commit long-term. The only thing potentially stopping them from doing so is another team swaying Hartenstein with a much higher offer.
New York has no reason not to return Hartenstein. After playing in all 82 games as a dependable backup big in 2022-23, Hartenstein became a full-time starter early this season after Mitchell Robinson went down with an ankle injury.
He stepped up massively in Robinson’s absence, protecting the rim to a similar level and growing into more of a threat on the other end. He developed a strong on-court relationship with Jalen Brunson, started relying on his floater and became an offensive hub out of the high post.
He averaged 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.1 blocks on 64.4 percent shooting from the field during the regular season. His strong performance held through a sore Achilles that bothered him through the year, and into the Playoffs where he went up against Joel Embiid and Pascal Siakam one-on-one.
Hartenstein’s exceptional two-way play will make him a hot target in unrestricted free agency, and as much as the Knicks may want to keep him, they’re limited in matching the open market. They have his early bird rights, meaning they can re-sign him to 175 percent of his previous salary or 120 percent of the league average figure, putting their max offer around $16-17 million a year.
There are a number of teams with cap space this offseason that could go higher than $20 million in pursuit of Hartenstein’s services. If there’s a big enough gap in the salaries, would Hartenstein take a serious look elsewhere?
One alternative New York could employ is offering him a…
Source link : https://sports.yahoo.com/stay-knicks-sign-isaiah-hartenstein-150005373.html
Author : SNY
Publish date : 2024-05-26 15:00:05
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