Even though the Oklahoma City Thunder fell five wins shy of their back-to-back ambitions, Isaiah Hartenstein kept an eye on the 2026 NBA Finals. Not just to see if the San Antonio Spurs will fall short, but to see if a bunch of his old teammates on the New York Knicks will join him in the ring club.
That’s what happened as the Knicks had one of the most dominant playoff runs in NBA history. They went on a sizzling 16-3 that included a historic 13-game win streak. About every game turned into a blowout. And then they gentlemen-swept the Spurs in the 2026 NBA Finals.
An unprecedented run by a team that didn’t even follow Phil Jackson’s golden rule of ’40 wins before 20 losses’ in the regular season. Of course, Hartenstein enjoyed his breakout on the Knicks. He spent two seasons there from 2022-24. In that time, he showed he was capable of being a full-time starter. He parlayed that into joining the Thunder.
At the 2026-27 Thunder Media Day, Hartenstein reflected on the Knicks’ 2026 NBA championship. He was happy to see plenty of his former teammates bring home the Larry O’Brien trophy.
“Yeah, it was great. Again, I played with so many of those guys. You’re with them for so long, you go through so many different things,” Hartenstein said. “It was just great to see that they won and great to see that the work they put in has all worked out. I talk a lot with OG. So it’s cool for me to see him have those big plays and be able to win a championship.”
The Thunder and Knicks enter the 2026-27 season as some of the more popular title picks. If those two teams meet up in the 2027 NBA Finals, one of the prevailing storylines will be about Hartenstein’s time with both organizations. His exit from New York shocked a lot of its fanbase, but the decision paid off as he helped OKC win one NBA championship and possibly more.
