still remembers Hartenstein, once in the Rockets, he was Zhou Qi's teammate, and the two also competed for playing time. However, time has passed, and now, he has become a star player in the NBA.
Because, he got a three-year, $87 million contract, this contract from the Thunder, not surprisingly, next season, he will be the Thunder's main interior player.
Born in May 1998, the 26-year-old is at the peak of his career. In 2017, he entered the NBA Draft, when he was selected by the Rockets with the 43rd pick and became teammates with Zhou Qi. He also spent the next few seasons on devolution and wandering until July 2022, when he was traded to the Knicks.
Here he found his spring and became an important player for the team. On January 4, 2024, in the game between the Knicks and the Bulls, Hartenstein played the masterpiece of his career. In the whole game, he played 36 minutes and scored 10 points, 20 rebounds, 1 assist and 5 blocks, especially 20 rebounds and 5 blocks, both of which set a new personal season high. It has to be said that after several seasons of training, his personal ability has been greatly improved.
In fact, from the beginning of his rookie season in Hartenstein, we have seen that he has improved every season. In his rookie season, he averaged only 1.9 points and 1.7 rebounds per game, and in the 2023-24 season, he has been very good, averaging 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.3 assists per game, and he also started 49 games.
Seeing Hartenstein like this, everyone sighed that the progress was really too great. In contrast, our star player Zhou Qi returned to the CBA early. In terms of talent, Zhou Qi and Hartenstein are about the same, but now, the gap between the two is visible to the naked eye. For him, we seem to have only envy.
For NBA legend Yao Ming, whether it is Zhou Qi or Hartenstein, they are actually the same as him, they are both former Rockets players, and now, they can only be envious. If we also have such players in the national team, how good it would be, then there is no need to find ways to naturalize.