Knicks Rumors: NY Optimistic About New OG Anunoby, Isaiah Hartenstein Contracts in FA

The New York Knicks were one win away from reaching the Eastern Conference Finals this season, and they reportedly want to bring back two major pieces from their postseason run.

Ian Begley of SNY reported Thursday that those within the organization “felt earlier in the offseason that they were in a good place” when it came to their chances of re-signing OG Anunoby and Isaiah Hartenstein.

While Anunoby has a player option for the 2024-25 campaign, Begley reported he is “highly likely” to decline it and hit free agency. That means the Knicks will likely compete with other teams such as the Philadelphia 76ers, who are flush with cap space.

It should be noted New York can sign the swingman to a max deal of five years and $245 million, so that optimism is not surprising.

As for Hartenstein, he likely won’t command that type of salary. Still, Begley noted other teams could offer him more than the $16 million for the 2024-25 season that the Knicks can offer him due to salary cap rules.

Perhaps a long-term offer of four years and $72.5 million could get the job done for New York, but there figures to be no shortage of competition.

Hartenstein picked an ideal time to impress in his role during the playoffs. He was a double-double threat every time he stepped on the floor and ended up averaging 8.5 points and 7.8 rebounds per game in the postseason.

Without his contributions, the Knicks would have struggled even more to replace the lost production from injuries to Mitchell Robinson, Julius Randle, Bojan Bogdanović and Anunoby.

It isn’t hard to envision a healthy Knicks team making a deep run in the playoffs once again next season, especially in an Eastern Conference with plenty of question marks outside of the Boston Celtics.

Keeping that core together will start with re-signing Anunoby and Hartenstein, and fans can at least take solace knowing there is some internal optimism in the early stages of the offseason.