The Oklahoma City Thunder need to start the regular season without the heart of Isaiah Hartenstein. The 26-year-old’s heart “suffered a small non-displaced fracture in his left hand during the second half of Tuesday’s preseason game in Denver,” the Thunder announced Thursday. “Hartenstein will be re-evaluated in five or six weeks.”
Hartenstein signed a three-year, $87 million contract (with a team pick at Time 3) with the Thunder in July. was once Some of the vital signings of the summer season. — was coming off a career year with the Pristine York Knicks, and Oklahoma Town was coming off a 57-win season. The Thunder already had a skilled center in Chet Holmgren, however The charm was once evident.: Hartenstein makes them bigger, higher on the glass, and most importantly, more adaptable. His way of playing from the supremacy of the key diversifies his offense and his projection opens up opportunities all over the court.
Three preseason games into his tenure, you’ll see Oklahoma Town understanding playing games against Hartenstein. Here’s his offseason teammate Alex Caruso, appearing behind a revealed look from outside the paint thanks to an imaginative center from the big man from their first game together:
Two days away, every two days he learns admirably from Hartenstein and every two buckets for Caruso:
The absence of Hartenstein, the closest thing, is a setback. During a news conference three weeks ago, general manager Sam Presti said: “We’re going to need some time with this particular group, especially since we’re not trying to interfere [Hartenstein and Caruso] or they have assumptions about how they will fit in with certain players. We have to let that take its course.” Now Oklahoma Town will need more weeks. If Hartenstein can play games in six weeks, he will have ignored the first 18 games of the regular season.
It’s important to keep track of how the Thunder progress toward top speed. They’ve made it known that they want to play games in a different way offensively, but now they’re going to be without the guy that unlocks a bunch of different moves. They’re lucky to be able to turn to an offense that ranked third in the NBA in season-high power, but they probably don’t want to give up what they’ve been working on during training camp and the preseason.
Within the reduction period, OKC’s lead is slim. The big Jaylin Williams sprained his right hamstring early in this sprint, and forward Kenrich Williams had an arthroscopic debridement (i.e., cleaning) process on his right knee a while ago. Both will be reevaluated at the end of the preseason. If neither are available when the regular season begins and the Thunder don’t build any roster movement, they could be extremely small. Ousmane Dieng, the 21-year-old who chose Wrong. 11 in the 2022 draft, he’s not a standard “big,” but he’s 6-foot-9 and will have a chance to be in the rotation. Bismack Biyombo, who spent the final months of the 2023-24 season at Oklahoma Town, is more of a remote agent.
The Thunder revealed the season on October 24 against three-time MVP Nikola Jokic and the Denver Nuggets. This matchup would be a great opportunity to see what their two big lineups look like and maybe even get Hartenstein to approach Holmgren. Because of this shock, all of that must wait.
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