In his first 24 seconds of action this season, Isaiah Hartenstein grabbed a defensive rebound, ran a dribble handoff with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, created a potential hockey-like assist for an Alex Caruso 3-pointer initiated by a short-roll pass to the corner, and cut along the baseline for a what would’ve been a dunk had he not been stripped at the last second.
It was a fitting start to Hartenstein’s Thunder career, which is now only three games deep. Since recovering from a fracture in his left hand, he has been at the center of OKC’s attack on both ends, averaging 15.3 points, 12.7 rebounds, 3.3 assists, and a pair of blocks per game in over 30 minutes a night.
As the Thunder have gotten off to an unsurprising 14-4 start, tops in the Western Conference, entering their NBA Cup group play game against the Lakers on Friday night, it was easy to forget that Hartenstein hadn’t even played until a week ago. His absence became more glaring when Chet Holmgren went down with his hip injury, which will keep him out until at least the second week of January.
Enter Hartenstein, who is, only short of being a 3-point shooter, close to a perfect modern center. He’s a rebounding monster who will get you between three and five extra possessions pretty much every night. He’s a long, athletic rim protector and a surgical two-man partner (his six screen assists per game lead the league in the time he’s been back and would rank just below Domantas Sabonis‘ 6.5 for the full season). He’s a terrific rim- and short-roller, and a superb passer out of the latter. He finishes with force when he has a line to the rim. His push shot is almost automatic when he doesn’t.
Specifically, this Thunder defense, so long as you adjust for pace and era, has the makings of an all-time unit. When fully healthy, they can put just about any lineup they want on the floor and pair elite perimeter pressure with equally elite rim protection. They’re giving up a league-low 103 points per 100 possessions, and that number would be appreciably lower had they not been forced to play the stretch between Holmgren’s injury and Hartenstein’s return with 6-foot-8 Jalen Williams at center.
With the obvious caveat that we’re talking about a three-game sample — two of which came against the 29th-ranked Blazers offense and the Warriors without Stephen Curry (Golden State without Curry is an offensive train wreck) — the Thunder are surrendering just 92.7 points per 100 possessions this season, according to Cleaning the Glass, with Hartenstein on the floor, and 0.93 points per possession.
Those are extraordinary marks, and to think, Hartenstein, Homlgren and Caruso have yet to play a single game together. To say Hartenstein is a perfect fit with the Thunder would be an understatement, but it’s also a disservice to his talent. He would fit anywhere. He was a rock star last season for the Knicks, who simply couldn’t afford to retain him because they were bound by the salary increase they could offer with only his early Bird rights.
OKC went to a number New York couldn’t come close to matching: $87.5 million over three years, and in just three games, we’re already seeing that he’s going to be worth every penny of that deal.
