PHILADELPHIA — One way or another, someone’s going to run Isaiah Hartenstein a nice, fat bag of money this offseason.
Hartenstein started the season as Knicks backup center, moved up to the starting spot when Mitchell Robinson suffered a stress fracture in early December, then held onto the starting job after Robinson returned from injury.
He is set to become an unrestricted free agent at the end of this season, free to sign with any team, including the Knicks, who believe they have the best one-two punch at the center position in all of basketball — but could have to pay the premium to keep two starting caliber centers on the roster next year.
After the Knicks eliminated the 76ers in Game 6 at the Wells Fargo Center on Thursday, Hartenstein said he’ll focus on contract negotiations when the time comes.
“I mean. That will come,” he said. “I know I’m getting paid regardless. Whatever happens now is just extra. So not really focused on that.”
Hartenstein averaged 8.7 points, 9.4 rebounds, 1.3 steals and 1.3 blocks per game since assuming the starting center role on the Knicks after Robinson’s Dec. 8 injury. He ranked top-five in offensive rebounding (3.5 per game), top-20 in rebounding, and was one of just five players from the date of assuming the starting role to average at least nine rebounds, one block and one steal per game.
The other four were Embiid for the 76ers, San Antonio Spurs Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama, Los Angeles Lakers star Anthony Davis, and Phoenix Suns center Jusuf Nurkic.
Hartenstein averaged about 10 points, 6.5 rebounds and 1.3 blocks per game in the Knicks’ first-round playoff matchup against Joel Embiid and the Sixers.
He signed a two-year, $16 million deal in the summer of 2022 and has significantly outplayed his contract this season.
Which brings us to the Knicks, their roster and the payroll logistics needed to keep one of the premier big man combos together for the foreseeable future. Robinson has two more years left on his four-year, $60 million deal before hitting unrestricted free agency in 2026.
The Knicks already have roughly $123 million in guaranteed player salaries for the 2024-25 NBA season, and that figure doesn’t include OG Anunoby, who is likely to decline his $19.9 million player option and renegotiate at a much higher number to secure a long-term deal with the Knicks.
Precious Achiuwa also becomes a restricted free agent this summer, and Achiuwa has acquitted himself well as a versatile reserve big man off the bench for Tom Thibodeau. Jericho Sims is also on the roster and had a strong training camp in South Carolina to start the season but couldn’t earn a real role in Thibodeau’s rotation playing behind two, and three big men after Robinson returned from injury.
Because Hartenstein signed with the Knicks as a free agent and spent two seasons in New York without changing teams, the Knicks own his Early Bird rights as he enters free agency this summer.
This means the Knicks can exceed the salary cap to sign Hartenstein to up to a four-year deal worth 175% of his previous salary, plus eight percent annual raises, or $68.6 million.
If they give Hartenstein this deal, and keep Robinson, the Knicks would be committing north of $60 million to the center position for the next two years.
And depending on Anunoby, who is also in line for a steep raise after helping turn the Knicks into a dominant defensive team following the Dec. 30 trade from the Toronto Raptors, re-signing Hartenstein and keeping the roster intact as is could subject the Knicks to stiff luxury tax bill payments.
The Knicks are good for it, and if they’re willing to foot the bill, they’ll be able to keep Hartenstein and Robinson in town.
So long as they run Hartenstein a fat bag first.
