Thunder have major opportunity to land popular big following Mikal Bridges trade

Not long after the OKC Thunder kicked off this offseason's trade escapades after dealing Josh Giddey out for Chicago Bulls guard, Alex Caruso, the Brooklyn Nets and New York Knicks opted to join in on the festivities by agreeing to terms on a transaction that will send rising star forward Mikal Bridges to Madison Square Garden.

As first reported by ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the Knickerbockers are bringing on the final two years of Bridges' $90.9 million deal in exchange for Bojan Bogdanovic, four unprotected first-round picks, a protected first-round pick via the Bucks, an unprotected pick swap and a second-rounder.

With this transaction, not only does it send a strong message of what direction both of these organizations are heading as they begin preparations for 2024-25, but the after-effects could wind up impacting outside ball clubs as well, including the likes of the Thunder.

Thunder target, Isaiah Hartenstein, no longer a lock for Knicks return

Following their two-round playoff excursion this past campaign, it was widely believed that the Knicks would be looking to keep the bulk of their core intact moving forward.

Of the many participants that served as major factors in their successes on the year was veteran center Isaiah Hartenstein, who is slated to hit unrestricted free agency and, per league-wide rumblings, is expected to be courted by several big man-needy teams such as Oklahoma City as a result of his career-defining production.

However, despite all this, the major talking point since their elimination concerning the situation between New York and the 26-year-old was that their objective was to re-sign him to an extended pact.

Unfortunately, the Bridges trade may have complicated things a bit.

Per a follow-up report by Wojnarowski, the Knicks are "still determined to keep OG Anunoby" in free agency, which is expected to cost them $30-35 million annually. To the NBA Insider, this plan seems to make the idea of seeing them re-sign the center "more difficult now."

According to sources, Hartenstein is expected to fetch anywhere from $80 to $100 million on the open market. Already, this number was expected to be rather challenging for New York (already had $154,686,050 committed to its payroll before the Bridges deal) to shell out.

Now, with the added financial commitments coming with the ex-Nets wing's contract, along with their reported incentive to bring back Anunoby, Hartenstein could very well be the odd-man out of their offseason plans.

Because of this, the Thunder must be monitoring this situation out in the Big Apple closely.

As noted earlier, Hartenstein finds himself coming off a career campaign in New York where he played in all 82 regular-season games and posted averages of 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, and 1.1 blocks a night.

He would then raise his level of play to even greater heights under the bright lights of the postseason, where he posted 8.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, 3.5 assists, and just shy of a block per game on 59.2 percent shooting from the floor and 50.0 percent shooting from distance.

With his combination of rim-protecting, board-gobbling, and floor-spacing skills, it should come as no surprise that the Thunder have "a lot of intrigue" in adding Hartenstein to their frontcourt rotation for next year's campaign.

With roughly $35 million in spending power this offseason, Oklahoma City is one of the most well-positioned teams in the association to make a splashy this summer.

Perhaps said splash could come in the form of a signing of the 7-foot center.