This is a move that was expected well before their season ended, now it’s about to become official.

The Oklahoma City Thunder are declining Isaiah Hartenstein’s $28.5 million team option for next season and signing him to a new three-year, $75 million contract, a story broken by Shams Charania of ESPN. He adds there is a “mutual option” — maybe both a player and a team option, maybe an agent’s phrasing for a partial guarantee — on the final season.

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This is a win-win deal. Hartenstein gets more money over the long term and gains security in this new contract. The Thunder get to keep a key center for them — especially when trying to defend Victor Wembanyama — and shave $3.5 million in salary next year (or more, depending upon the structure of the contract), which matters for a team currently over the second apron and trying to trim salary.

Hartenstein averaged 9.2 points and 9.4 rebounds a game last season, despite missing nearly half the year due to injuries. However, his greater impact was on the defensive end, where he served as the more physical big-man defender compared to the more mobile Chet Holmgren. In the Western Conference Finals, Hartenstein became the primary defender on Victor Wembanyama and did a respectable job on a next-to-impossible task.

For the Thunder, Hartenstein taking a little haircut this year helps as the franchise works to get under the second apron (in a year when the max contract extensions for Chet Holmgren and Andrew Wiggins kick in). Already this offseason, the team has traded Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins without taking back any salary, and now Hartenstein has done his part. If the Thunder are trying to shed more salary, that could mean the end of Luguentz Dort ($17.7 million) and/or Kenrich Williams ($7.2 million) era in Oklahoma City.