The Oklahoma City Thunder finished with the No.1 seed in the toughest division in the toughest conference and went to six games with the eventual Western Conference winner when OKC had the youngest roster in the league. They finished with the third-best offense and fourth-best defense.
Then, they got better.
Oklahoma City Should Be Favored to Win the West Following Addition of Isaiah Hartenstein
Within a span of the week, Oklahoma City added elite perimeter defender and 40% 3-point shooter Alex Caruso for non-shooter and weakest starter Josh Giddey.
Then on Monday, the Thunder tapped into their cap space, signing former Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein to a 3-year, $87 million contract. The last year of the contract is non-guaranteed, per Stefan Bondy of the New York Post. That gives the Thunder two years to compete with Hartenstein's contract structure before having to start shelling out money for their young stars like Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren the season after.
It is rare that you can universally praise a move.
This deserves universal praise. There is no downside. There is no risk or gamble. There is no bad part of this. It's all upside.
The Thunder had a wealth of cap space they needed to spend this summer. In adding Hartenstein, they add a player who finished second-best in defensive EPM. Maybe the bigger move is tied to IHart's rebounding. The Thunder suffered against bigger teams that could dominate them on the glass. Hartenstein ranked 9th in the league in offensive rebound rate and 87th percentile in defensive rebound rate.
He had a 68.5% TrueShooting Percentage, good for 97th percentile. He's low usage, super-high efficiency and played in 75 games last season for the Knicks.
But wait, there's more! Hartenstein is a great short-roll and lob weapon, so if teams attempt to trap Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Hartenstein can pass to open shooters. In related news, the Thunder re-signed Aaron Wiggins (49% from 3) and Isaiah Joe (42% from 3) on Sunday after adding Hartenstein.
Adding Hartenstein changes their five-out capability around Chet Holmgren. But Hartenstein, despite his contract, is not a big ego superstar who will demand starting or minutes. If OKC needs to utilize a five-out approach, they can do that with Holmgren. And Hartenstein is versatile enough to switch on the perimeter if the situation calls for that.
Hartenstein is 25 years old.
Again, there's no downside. There's no caution or warning. Bad fortune is the only way this summer doesn't make the Thunder a better team next year, after finishing, again, with the No.1 seed in the West with the third-best offense and fourth-best defense.
As a result of the move, the Thunder moved from +900 to +850 at FanDuel Monday morning, a difference of about one percentage point in title odds. That seems like an under-reaction. It's not that Hartenstein is an All-NBA player, it's that he's the most direct, best correction for the things they needed last year.
OKC is still +175 to win the Northwest Division behind favorite the Denver Nuggets, who lost Kentavious Caldwell-Pope in free agency and are expected to add Russell Westbrook in the coming days.
This is the rare instance in which the market is failing to react enough to free agency moves. The Thunder shouldn't be overwhelming favorites, but they are absolutely in position for another monster regular season, and better built to contend for the title than they were last spring.
Sam Presti is a super villain for these moves.
"I have no idea how Presti does this. He got Alex Caruso for Josh Giddey, and now getting Hartenstein, who perfectly fits their needs, operating around a small market that has trouble getting bigger-name free agents," a team executive said Sunday night.
"Unbelievable."
