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New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein is reportedly expected to attract some significant offers in free agency this offseason.
According to Jake Fischer of Yahoo Sports, NBA executives and cap strategists believe Hartenstein will be able to command a contract that pays him a total of at least $80 million, and possibly upwards of $100 million.
Given the Knicks’ salary-cap situation, their best chance to keep Hartenstein may be to utilize his Early Bird Rights, but as noted by Fischer, the best they can offer him is a four-year, $72.5 million, which could open the door for other teams to potentially land him.
A second-round pick in the 2017 NBA draft, Hartenstein has largely had a nomadic NBA career thus far.
Over his first four seasons, Hartenstein played for four different teams in the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, Cleveland Cavaliers. and Los Angeles Clippers, and he played quite sparingly over his first three campaigns.
The 7-footer finally carved out a significant role for himself with the Clips in 2021-22 when he averaged a career-high 8.3 points per game to go along with 4.9 rebounds, 2.4 assists and 1.1 blocks in 68 appearances.
Hartenstein parlayed that into a two-year contract with the Knicks in free agency, and it turned out to be a great move for his career, as he played all 82 games for the first time in 2022-23 and averaged 5.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.2 assists per contest.
This season, Hartenstein became an even bigger contributor for New York, starting a career-high 49 of the 75 games he played in, and averaging a career-high 25.3 minutes per game.
Hartenstein also set or matched career highs with 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.1 block per contest, and he averaged 7.8 points per game on 64.4 percent shooting.
He also played a huge role in the Knicks’ run to the second round of the playoffs, averaging 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds and 3.5 assists in 13 postseason games, all of which were starts.
Key players such as Julius Randle, Mitchell Robinson and OG Anunoby all missed significant time due to injuries this season, but Hartenstein was one of the Knicks’ constants.
Although players such as Jalen Brunson, Randle, Anunoby, Josh Hart and Donte DiVincenzo received much of the credit. for New York’s success this season, Hartenstein would represent a huge loss in free agency since he does the dirty work inside and provides a major defensive presence in the paint.
The Knicks will have Robinson to fall back on if Hartenstein leaves, but given that Robinson has missed 72 out of a possible 162 games over the past two seasons, they can’t trust that he will be able to remain healthy.
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