The Oklahoma City Thunder have signed Isaiah Hartenstein to a three-year, $87 million, per ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski. This comes less than a day after they reportedly met with the free agent at Oregon.
The Thunder have fixed most of the rebounding and size problems they endured last season with Hartenstein’s. His 18.5% rebound rate last season would’ve easily ranked first last season among regular OKC players.
Hartenstein had a breakout year last season with the New York Knicks. He took over the starting center spot for them once Mitchell Robinson went down and was a starter for 49 out of 75 games.
The 26-year-old averaged 7.8 points on 64.4% shooting, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks. At 7-foot, 250 pounds, he gives OKC some serious size at the backup big spot.
Hartenstein will likely be the Thunder’s backup center. There’s some jumbo-lineup flexibility when he shares a frontcourt with Chet Holmgren.