Rebounding. Passing. Scoring. Blocking. Hartenstein has done all that at a high level and more in his five games this season.

That depth of defenders combined with increased physicality is why Oklahoma City has the best defense in the league — and it has yet to play Hartenstein and Holmgren together (they haven’t been healthy at the same time). However, having just one of them back to clean things up at the rim lets those quality perimeter defenders be more aggressive.

Concern around the Oklahoma City Thunder’s frontcourt without Chet Holmgren has been all but nullified thanks to the return and stellar play of Isaiah Hartenstein.

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,

With an $87 million price tag over the next few seasons, Isaiah Hartenstein had a large contract to live up to after joining the Oklahoma City Thunder during th