Isaiah Hartenstein: Knicks Past and Present Form Win-Win

Hartenstein has lived up to every expectation a three-year, $87 million offseason deal from the Thunder bestowed him, sitting in the starting lineup and averaging 9.3 points and 8.1 rebounds after putting up a double-double in a record-breaking regular season for OKC. The Thunder is looking for its first Western title since 2012 after posting an NBA-best 68-14.

Even with the Thunder on the precipice of Western immortality, Hartenstein couldn't help but reflect on his days with the Knicks. Recalling the Knicks' prior playoff trip — which ended in a seven-game defeat to Indiana in the conference semifinal round — Hartenstein felt that the prior group could've contended for the Larry O'Brien Trophy had them had a full contingent, specifically calling out OG Anunoby, who played only five minutes over the final showings of the set.

"I think we had a chance last year if we had the same team," Hartenstein told Begley. "[I] don’t want to live in the hypothetical, but I felt like when we were all together, we were a really good team.”

Even though financial restrictions prevented the Knicks from realistically retaining his services, Hartenstein got a less-than-welcome reception when Oklahoma City made its annual visit to Madison Square Garden over the winter, leading to him acknowledge that he still "get[s] a bit of hate" from the Manhattan faithful. He made sure to mention that he "still love[s]" not only Knicks fans but their lead decision maker, team president Leon Rose.

“For Leon, how he adjusted, how he built that up, for them now to be in the Conference Finals, who would have thought that when he took over?” Hartenstein said. "“What a lot of people don’t get in our space is that it’s a business at the end of the day. Everyone gets kind of mad when you make a decision for yourself. But at the end of the day, you can get traded. There’s been so many examples of guys taking less money and they get traded to the team that was going to pay them more.”