Former Knicks C Isaiah Hartenstein Suffers Hand Fracture

Former New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein's debut with the Oklahoma City Thunder will have to wait.

Oct 9, 2024; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) gestures after a play against the Houston Rockets during the second quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images / Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Per Shams Charania of ESPN, former New York Knicks center Isaiah Hartenstein is set to miss at least the first five or six weeks of the 2024-25 NBA season due to a small, non-displaced fracture in his left hand.

Thus delays Hartenstein's hyped debut with the Oklahoma City Thunder, one that saw him end a two-year tenure with the Knicks. Hartenstein suffered the injury during Oklahoma City's preseason tilt with Denver on Tuesday.

Hartenstein's departure partly set off a chain of events that altered the course of the Knicks' franchise, ones that ultimately culminated in landing former Minnesota Timberwolves star Karl-Anthony Towns as his replacement. Hartenstein was one of the most prominent New York depth stars that stood up in the wake of injuries last season, taking over the starting center role when Mitchell Robinson went down and even keeping it when Robinson returned to action.

Hartenstein posted career-best numbers in Robinson's place, averaging 8.3 rebounds and leading all playoff participants in offensive boards until the final stages of the NBA Finals when he was finally surpassed by Dereck Lively.

In Oklahoma City, Hartenstein is expected to shore up the Thunder's rebounding issues that marred an otherwise brilliant season that saw them finish atop the Western Conference playoff bracket. Hartenstein, formerly an NBA nomad that worked through Houston, Denver, Cleveland, and Los Angeles before a Manhattan-based breakout, signed a three-year, $87 million deal out west, throwing the Knicks' interior situation into relative disarray before the Towns deal. The Knicks were only able to counter with a four-year, $72.5 million deal after trading for former Brooklyn Nets star Mikal Bridges.

Hartenstein's injury doesn't appear to affect his upcoming showdowns with the Knicks: New York visits Paycom Center on Jan. 3 before Hartenstein returns to Madison Square Garden exactly one week later.

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