Key Points
- Re-signs on a three-year, $75 million deal through the 2028-29 season.
- Total guaranteed earnings with Oklahoma City reach five years, $134 million.
- Deal carries a 15% trade kicker and a mutual option to rework it in 2028.
- Averaged 10.3 points and 10.1 rebounds over two seasons as the starting center.
Oklahoma City is keeping its frontcourt together. The Thunder are re-signing center Isaiah Hartenstein to a new three-year, $75 million deal, sources told ESPN on June 26, locking in the 7-footer through the 2028-29 season and pushing his guaranteed earnings in Oklahoma City to five years and $134 million.
Hartenstein joined the Thunder as a free agent in the summer of 2024, billed at the time as the finishing piece of a young contender's puzzle. Two seasons in, he has been exactly that: a starting center averaging 10.3 points, 10.1 rebounds and 3.7 assists in the regular season, and a fixture in the postseason, appearing in all 38 of the team's playoff games over his tenure. He was on the floor for Oklahoma City's deep runs — including the night Stephon Castle posterized him in the Western Conference Finals — and for the 8-0 start that opened the 2026 playoffs.
The structure is the real story. The new deal includes a maximum 15% trade kicker and a mutual option that lets both sides rework the agreement in 2028 before the final year. That is a front office paying to keep a core intact while building in flexibility — the kind of math that defines roster-building under the new, harder-capped CBA, where retaining your own rotation is increasingly the most expensive decision a contender makes. Hartenstein is represented by Andrew Morrison and Aaron Mintz of CAA Sports.
Source: ESPN
Days later, the Thunder traded All-Defensive wing Lu Dort to the Hawks in a three-team deal, continuing the offseason's cap-shedding push.
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