Knicks' place in East takes a hit after they lose Isaiah Hartenstein, 76ers add star power with Paul George
Philadelphia 76ers' Joel Embiid, left, tries to hang onto the ball against Los Angeles Clippers' Paul George during the first half of an NBA basketball game, Friday, Dec. 23, 2022, Credit: Matt Slocum
The Knicks took a hit Monday when Isaiah Hartenstein accepted an offer he couldn’t refuse, bolting for the Oklahoma City Thunder. But the piece they lost may not be as pressing as the moves that have taken place on the teams they are competing with next season.
The optimism around Madison Square Garden may have been tempered, the parade plans put on hold and a hit of reality injected into the Knicks.
They made their all-in move ahead of free agency, pushing much of their long-accumulated draft assets into the pot to trade for Mikal Bridges and signing their own free agent, OG Anunoby, to the largest contract in franchise history. For a few days — and maybe even now after losing one important piece in what they had built — the Knicks had risen to the lofty status of contender, regarded as maybe the biggest threat to the defending champion Boston Celtics.
Then the free-agent market opened, not nearly as wild as most years but still enough to shift the balance of power. And now the Knicks’ short-lived run as the ready-to-contend team is facing a serious threat.
While most teams have cowered when faced with the new restrictive collective bargaining agreement rules, the Philadelphia 76ers have gone on an old-school spending spree.
The team that took the Knicks to six games in the first round of the playoffs signed 34-year-old Paul George to a four-year, $212 million deal, providing another star piece to the core of Joel Embiid and Tyrese Maxey (with whom they then agreed on a five-year, $204 million contract extension). The 76ers worked around the fringes, too, signing center Andre Drummond — who could have been a fallback for the Knicks — as the first announced player to change teams and then signing guard Eric Gordon.
The Orlando Magic grabbed an important piece of the Denver Nuggets’ roster, Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, and added him to a talented young team.
So even after the Knicks stepped forward, they now find themselves in a crowd. Oddsmakers already have jumped Philadelphia back ahead of the Knicks in the current championship odds. And we didn’t even mention Milwaukee, Miami and Cleveland, returning playoff teams with their own revamps.
There is little that the Knicks can do to continue the roster-building. The moves they made to get to this place have pushed them to the edges of the salary cap. They had confidence that the necessary space could have been cleared for Hartenstein if he had accepted their offer, and they now have to try to finalize the roster with very little to work with.
The Knicks are slightly less than $6 million from the first apron and approximately $16 million from the second apron — even with first-round pick Pacome Dadiet included (if he remains overseas this season, he does not count against the cap).
Whatever maneuvers they make, the Knicks have put together the bulk of their roster for years to come, with Jalen Brunson and Julius Randle still eligible for contract extensions this summer. And that future may be brighter than the long-term prospects of the 76ers, who have improved as long as everything goes well; the injury/absence history for Embiid and George is not great.
So long term, that may be reassuring, but for now, when the Knicks believed they had put the pieces in place, it’s a harder pill to swallow.
The Knicks have two straight appearances in the Eastern Conference semifinals behind them and an immediate future that looks bright — bright enough that they were willing to send out five first-round picks to obtain Bridges and worry about the future later, or maybe not even then, leaving the problems for someone else to clean up.
Still, there are problems to face right now. Hartenstein is gone, and while it may seem fine to return Mitchell Robinson to his starting role, the luxury of depth at the position has been removed.
The Celtics made their own place as the front-runners clear as they reportedly agreed with Jayson Tatum on the richest contract in NBA history and put out notice that the franchise is for sale.
The Knicks’ players offered their social media congratulations to Hartenstein with jokes and best wishes. But there still is work to be done — more work than it appeared a few days ago — for the Knicks to take care of their own business.
Steve Popper covers the Knicks for Newsday. He has spent nearly three decades covering the Knicks and the NBA, along with just about every sports team in the New York metropolitan area.