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Dustin Satloff

NEW YORK — In the minutes before nearly every New York Knicks game this season, as the arena crescendos into a pulsing hive of activity — music blasting, players warming up, fans filing in, vendors hawking overpriced beer — Isaiah Hartenstein creates his own cocoon of calm.

The 7-foot center plops onto the bench, closes his eyes and focuses on his breathing.

“When you’re present, that’s when you play your best,” he said.

That focus, Hartenstein said, has helped him transform from a role player into a starter for a 50-win Knicks team that earned the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference playoffs — and it will probably earn him a significant raise on the free agent market this summer. He averaged 7.8 points and 8.3 rebounds during the regular season and anchored the NBA’s ninth-ranked defense.

Hartenstein is part of a growing number of NBA players who embrace meditation, which was first popularized in the league by Hall of Fame coach Phil Jackson. The “Zen Master” led the Chicago Bulls and Los Angeles Lakers to 11 NBA championships between 1991 and 2010 while leading regular team meditation and yoga sessions and emphasizing the importance of mindfulness.

These days, players who regularly practice meditation can be found in every corner of the league, from stars such as Lakers forward LeBron James and Denver Nuggets guard Jamal Murray to role players such as Phoenix Suns forward Royce O’Neale and Sacramento Kings two-way guard Mason Jones.

In a sport that glorifies workaholism, in which success is often measured in pools of sweat, a player taking a moment to step back and focus on his breathing might seem odd. But for some, bringing mindfulness to the court might make the difference between a good game and a bad game.

And as the NBA playoffs ramp up, the spotlight on players’ performance will get even brighter — underscoring the importance of finding peace amid pressure.

“I started to notice that a lot of things in sports is actually a lot more mental than physical,” Hartenstein said. “I noticed that meditation helped me be more present through day-to-day life, but also more present during the game.”

Hartenstein began meditating during the 2020-21 season when he was with the Nuggets after reading a pair of books: “Mind Gym” by Gary Mack and “The Mindful Athlete” by George Mumford, the sports psychologist who worked with Jackson’s Bulls and Lakers teams. These days, in addition to his pregame routine, Hartenstein practices meditation for about 15 minutes in the morning and 30 minutes at night with the app Headspace. Sometimes, if he notices his mind spiraling while on the court, he’ll take a few meditative breaths during a break in the action — without closing his eyes.

“You probably won’t be able to see it unless you really pay attention,” said Hartenstein, who has <a href="https://www.washingtonpost.com/sports/2024/04/22/knicks-sixers-wild-finish-nurse-maxey/" target=_blank>helped the Knicks take a 2-0 series lead</a> over the Philadelphia 76ers in their first-round playoff matchup. “I’ll do one long breath in, and then at the very end you do another breath, and then you let it out. I’ll do that one to three times. That helps me re-center.”

Elsa

Jones, who split time this season between the Kings’ main roster and the Stockton Kings, the franchise’s G League affiliate, also turned to mindfulness to stay grounded while on the court — and to find calm amid shuffling between the two teams.

Before every game this season, whether with Sacramento or Stockton, Jones would find a quiet room, sit in a chair and, for 10 minutes, inhale and exhale deeply. He practiced mindfulness during games, too: In the third quarter of Stockton’s G League playoff game against the Santa Cruz Warriors this month, Jones felt his mind wandering. During a timeout, he closed his eyes and took five deep breaths. Then, with 11 seconds left in the fourth quarter, he beat the shot-clock buzzer with<a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x8q-yyb6Ts4" target=_blank> a three-pointer</a> that gave the Kings the lead for good.

“Before you get angry, breathe. Before you make any decision, breathe. Close your eyes and breathe,” Jones said of the mind-set that helped him land back in the NBA in February after a two-year stint overseas.

O’Neale, who averaged 25.1 minutes for the Suns after a midseason trade from Brooklyn, also has a routine: He meditates the night before games, and then in the locker room about a half-hour before the opening tip. He lies on the locker room floor, cues up a “spa music” playlist and spends five minutes taking deep breaths. It helps him block out noise from the crowd once play starts.

“It’s like they’re not even there,” O’Neale said.

Christian Petersen

The conversation around mental health in the NBA has shifted in the past decade, with several teams now employing mental performance coaches. Erwin Valencia, who served with the Knicks in that capacity, helped bridge the gap from Jackson’s days to the modern era.

In 2014, Jackson was hired to be the Knicks’ team president. The following year, Valencia, then the team’s director of training and conditioning, suggested to Jackson that the Knicks integrate meditation, Valencia said. He had grown up idolizing Jackson and described their relationship as similar to “Luke Skywalker and Yoda.”

“We started with him doing these meditations whenever he was in New York,” Valencia said of Jackson. “It ruffled a little bit of the players’ feathers because he would do it at odd times. … He would show up and say, ‘This is the day we do meditations.’ And players were coming out of practice, completely sweaty. They were like, ‘What are we doing?’ Some of the players who were younger were like, ‘What does this old guy want us to do?’ ”

Valencia devised a plan to make meditation more accessible for players from that generation who were glued to their phones. He arranged for the team to have free access to Headspace, which launched in 2012 and had yet to erupt in popularity.

Jackson and the Knicks parted ways in June 2017, but Valencia continued to help players embrace mindfulness. The rest of the league started to catch on, too: Valencia’s relationship with Headspace’s founders paved the way for the app to build a relationship with the NBA, and in 2018, the league reached a partnership with the app: All NBA players and employees were granted access to Headspace, and the league produced guided training videos for the app.

In the years that followed, Valencia led the Knicks in breathing sessions before practice and games. Some players rolled their eyes — including veteran forward Julius Randle, Valencia said. Randle won the league’s most improved player award in 2020-21, but after his play dipped the following season, he approached Valencia about integrating meditation into his daily routine.

Early in the 2022-23 season, MSG Network <a href="https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=x_4wbcA7Ym4" target=_blank>showed footage of Valencia guiding Randle</a> in a pregame meditation from the Knicks’ bench in the minutes before a game at Madison Square Garden. Their routine, which started with Randle rubbing an essential oil blend<b> </b>on his wrist, continued throughout the season, and Randle excelled: He averaged 25.1 points and 10 rebounds and was named third-team all-NBA.

Valencia also guided Hartenstein and former Knicks forward Obi Toppin in pregame meditations, he said. He left the Knicks after last season, but his influence remains: In addition to Hartenstein, Randle continued his pregame meditations before he suffered a season-ending shoulder injury in January.

“When you’re an athlete, you need to train yourself to find stillness in the middle of madness,” Valencia said. “If you’re so used to practicing a meditative practice, or a mindfulness practice, in the middle of silence all the time, then the moment you get out, you get overwhelmed, and especially in the Garden.

“Having a consistent practice in a space of madness, along with having a practice in a space of peace, allows you to find that peace within the madness.”

Before Game 2 against the 76ers on Tuesday, Hartenstein sat quietly on the bench, his eyes closed as his teammates shot jumpers. About three hours later, with New York trailing in the final minute, he jumped past multiple defenders and grabbed the offensive rebound that led to guard Donte DiVincenzo’s go-ahead three-pointer with 13 seconds remaining. On the next possession, he blocked Philadelphia guard Tyrese Maxey’s layup attempt, sending the Garden into pandemonium and preserving what would become a 104-101 Knicks win.

Hartenstein pumped his fist and roared. His eyes were wide open.

Society of Professional Journalists Mark of Excellence, Regional Finalist, Online Sports Reporting, April 2016

University of Maryland, BA in Multiplatform Journalism

Joshua Needelman is a freelance writer and former reporter for The Washington Post. He's a Long Island native and a University of Maryland graduate.

Joshua Needelman

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