The Atlanta Hawks Must Target Isaiah Hartenstein in Free Agency

The Atlanta Hawks' offseason is underway now after their series loss to the New York Knicks and Atlanta heads into this offseason as one of the most interesting teams in the NBA.

Atlanta remade their team completely on the fly during the season, but a lot of the players they acquired are going to be free agents or potentially be free agents depending on what the Hawks do with a couple of player options.

After acquiring CJ McCollum, Corey Kispert, Gabe Vincent, Jock Landale, Tony Bradley and Buddy Hield during the season, there is a chance that some of them might not be back. McCollum, Vincent, Bradley, and Landale are unrestricted free agents, Jonathan Kuminga has a $24 million player option, Hield's contract is partially guaranteed until June 25th, and Kispert is a candidate to be traded. The Hawks are heading into the summer as an over the cap team, but declining Kuminga's option, moving Kispert (or Zaccharie Risacher), and moving on from Hield before his contract becomes guaranteed would give the Hawks some serious room to operate as a team.

We will see what the Hawks are going to do with some of their options and how much space they are going to open up, but if they can get enough space to make a big move, there is one clear target they should be aiming for and it is Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein.

Why would he fit?

One of the objectives for the Hawks this season has to be to get bigger in the frontcourt where they can deal with bigger, physical teams. It was a huge issue against the New York Knicks in the playoffs with their backup center Jock Landale, but even with him, the Hawks would have been at a disadvantage.

Okongwu had his best season as a Hawks, averaging career highs in points, steals, assists, and three point shooting percentage and is one of the most underrated centers in the NBA. However, bigger players are just naturally tougher matchups for him and having someone who can give the Hawks some flexibility would make them a more formidable team. Atlanta tried to do that last offseason when they traded for Kristaps Porzingis, but he only played in 17 games as he could not stay healthy.

Hartenstein (7'0 250 LBS) has been a huge force for the Thunder during this dominant run, helping them win a championship last season and making them the heavy favorites to win it again this season. He is a versatile big and a terrific rebounder, averaging 9.4 RPG in 24 MPG this season and a year ago, he averaged 10.7 RPG in 28 MPG.

Per Cleaning the Glass, Hartenstein had an 13.5% offensive rebounding rate (87th percentile amongst players) and a 24% defensive rebounding rate (93rd percentile) while also having a 1.7% steal percentage (86th percentile), and a 19% assists percentage (90th percentile). Hartenstein is a solid shot blocker (1.6% block percentage), but he is a big man that can rebound at a high rate, causes havoc on defense, is a very good passer, and shot 74% at the rim this past season.

There are a couple of tricky things to a potential partnership and let's start with the on court fit, something the Hawks would be able to figure out.

Hartenstein is not a shooting big, perhaps his biggest flaw. Why would this be a problem? The Hawks are already going to play one non-shooter in their lineups with Dyson Daniels, who is elite at other things and one of the Hawks most valuable players. Do they want to complicate their spacing by having them on the court together? They would not necessarily have to start Hartenstein and Quin Snyder could figure out how to make it work, but it is something to ponder.

Will he be a free agent?

I am talking about Hartenstein like he for certain going to be a free agent, but it is possible that he is not. Oklahoma City is going to have to decide if they want to pick up his $28.5 million team option for next season and it is not a certainty that they will. Why would the Thunder move on from a core piece of their championship run? Well the max contracts for Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren kick in next season and they will both be making $41.5 million. Cason Wallace is going to be extenson eligible as well.

With those salaries kicking in, will the Thunder want to bring Hartenstein back at nearly $30 million? That is the question that has to be answered first before the Hawks can pursue him.

Atlanta needs some help for Okongwu at center and a pairing of him and Hartenstein would be among the league's best and fix a lot of problems for the Hawks and give them more options against bigger teams.

Add us as a preferred source on Google