The Los Angeles Lakers must love the idea of adding Isaiah Hartenstein to their roster this summer. The 28-year-old center has a $28.5 million club option with the Oklahoma City Thunder this offseason and could thus become a free agent. He'd be a clear upgrade to Deandre Ayton, and he has plenty of experience going up against Victor Wembaynama (with as much success as pretty much any player could hope for in that situation).
Hartenstein's lack of fear around Wemby (and his ability to not get completely embarrassed by Wembanyama in the style of Chet Holmgren) makes him an especially valuable asset to contenders in the West. This includes the Lakers, as mentioned above, but it also very much includes Hartenstein's current team, the Thunder. That's why it wasn't a huge surprise to see in a new ESPN piece from Anthony Slater and Tim MacMahon that Hartenstein is widely believed to be a big priority for OKC this summer.
OKC Thunder are expected to retain Isaiah Hartenstein this offseason
"There is a strong anticipation among team and league sources that Hartenstein will be back in Oklahoma City next season, whether the Thunder choose to pick up his team option or the sides agree to an extension," Slater and MacMahon reported on Tuesday.
Lakers fans have been looking at Oklahoma City's salary sheet in recent weeks and wondering about a potential Hartenstein-Thunder split, mostly due to the fact that OKC has no less than six club options to decide about (including Lu Dort's $18.2 million situation). With Chet, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams each making north of $40 million per season starting next year, would the Thunder have to cut costs everywhere else, including in regard to Hartenstein?
These were logical questions to be asking from the outside looking in. Slater and MacMahon's intel sheds some light on the answer -- while OKC will inevitably have to say goodbye to some players, they want to ensure that Hartenstein sticks around. Surely, Holmgren's struggles in the Western Conference Finals made the Thunder feel even stronger about this stance (which was probably already held based on Hartenstein's sturdy career so far in OKC).
Lakers shouldn't waste another moment dreaming about Isaiah Hartenstein
Alas, it doesn't look like the Lakers will be able to acquire Hartenstein this summer, or anytime in the near future, at least not without somehow scheming themselves into trade assets that would entice OKC (a highly, highly unlikely scenario). The Lakers will have to look elsewhere for their Ayton upgrade. It's time to officially move on from the I-Hart idea and not look back.
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