Knicks need to make their Isaiah Hartenstein blueprint work again

This hurts. This stings. Isaiah Hartenstein wasn’t supposed to become an essential part of the Knicks’ basketball DNA, he was supposed to be a backup who played hard for 15 or 18 minutes, did some hard-hat handiwork around the basket, contribute when he could.

Instead, he became a central figure in what the Knicks became this spring, an emotional core that fit right in with the likes of Josh Hart, the two of them grabbing impossible offensive rebounds and clutch defensive boards, Hartenstein developing a pick-and-roll chemistry with Jalen Brunson that unlocked so much of the Knicks’ offense, even developing that little lefty flip shot that seemed to go in about 91 percent of the time.

He got a lot better than he was supposed to be.

And now he’s a lot richer than even he likely ever thought he’d be. Hartenstein made official what the Knicks had long feared Monday morning, signing a three-year, $87 million Godfather deal with the Oklahoma City Thunder that the Knicks simply couldn’t approach, not with them limited by the four years and $72.5 million max Hartenstein’s Early Bird Rights allowed.

Exactly two years earlier — July 1, 2022 — Hartenstein had all but been secretly smuggled into New York on a two-year, $16 million deal, a news item that was completely swallowed up by the Knicks’ signing of Jalen Brunson the same day. Hartenstein was considered a smart signing, but hardly a galvanizing one.

He changed that. When this iteration of Knicks first demanded to paid attention to, in the five-game sweep of Cleveland in the 2023 playoffs, Hartenstein teamed with Mitch Robinson to completely overwhelm the Cavaliers’ young twin towers of Jarrett Allen and Evan Mobley.

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Then this season, asked to start for most of the year once Robinson’s ankle cost him most of the regular season and then the final 10 games of the playoffs, Hartenstein became a second-tier Garden folk hero right alongside Hart and Donte DiVincenzo. It was impossible not to fall hard for Hartenstein’s passion, his unselfishness, his willingness to play hurt.

“He’s smart, he’s physical, you can ask him to do a lot of things and he’s going to get them done for you,” Tom Thibodeau said during the 76ers series. “He’s a winning player. And there’s always going to be a place in this game for winning players.”

There just wasn’t enough money in the coffers to keep him, and what hurts a little extra is that it was the Knicks who developed Hartenstein and helped turn him in to the player he’s become. Hartenstein had been a journeyman early in his career, bouncing from Houston to Denver to Cleveland to the Clippers, and in LA he first showed a spark of what could be.

In New York — with the help of the Knicks’ coaches — he realized all of it. He goes to OKC now, which was the top seed in the West last year and to the end the one thing missing for the Thunder was a size presence to support Chet Holmgren. They have that now. Good for the Thunder. Better for Hartenstein.

Not so good for the Knicks, who also saw possible target Mason Plumlee sign with the Suns on Sunday and then saw the 76ers add Paul George Monday morning. It is important to remember that the Knicks do still have Robinson, and until circumstances forced otherwise he was their preference in the pivot. His offense isn’t Hartenstein’s but his defense is elite; his problem has always been staying on the floor.

And that’s the Knicks’ problem now, too, because at this point they have to view him as a guy they need to rely on more than ever. Next up: The Knicks need to identify The Next Hartenstein, a player who comes with a reasonable enough price tag to be acquired and enough upside to pique their interest, and then put them through the same kind of intense developmental boot camp that turned Hartenstein into a near $30 million-a-year player.

The Knicks played a huge part in earning him that score, though they aren’t exactly celebrating that today. Instead they go back to work. They took a couple of steps forward last week, adding Mikal Bridges and retaining OG Anunoby. They take a step back now.

A long time ago, a Garden favorite named Xavier McDaniel fled the Knicks with the roars of the Garden still ringing in his ears. It sure felt that summer of 1992 like the Knicks had just been kneecapped. A year later they won 60 games. Two years later they were in the Finals. Good teams figure it out on the fly. Dave Checketts and Ernie Grunfeld did in ’92. Now it’s Leon Rose’s turn.