Rockets sign Isaiah Hartenstein to a three-year deal

We reported earlier last week that second-year center Isaiah Hartenstein was in the plans for the Houston Rockets this season, and the team took the major step to make those plans a reality by signing him today to a three-year deal, according to the Houston Chronicle’s Jonathan Feigen and Fox Sports’ Mark Berman.

The final financial terms of the deal have yet to be released, but the Rockets will be utilizing a portion of their mid-level exception in order to consummate the deal.

The American-born German was drafted with the 43rd pick by the Rockets in 2017, and he spent his first year in the G-League, where he looked pretty raw.

The 7’0” center showed up for Vegas Summer League this year looking like a more mature player, however, and the 20-year-old gave a good account of himself, going for 10.3 points, 8 rebounds, and 2.4 blocks per game while shooting 52 percent from the field. He helped anchor a Rockets defense that sparked the team to a 4-1 record in Vegas.

He still has plenty of maturing to do, but management thinks highly of him and believe he has some Clint Capela-like potential in the long term, and though his role this season is uncertain, he has a legit shot to earn some minutes as the third center, and the three-year deal shows Hartenstein is squarely in the team’s long-term plans.

We’ll update the story once financial terms of the deal become available.

Update: The financial terms are reported to be 3-years, $3.9 million, with this season’s $838,464 fully guaranteed, the $1.41 million next season partially guaranteed, and the $1.66 million in 2020-2021 non-guaranteed.