Isaiah Hartenstein fractures hand, will miss at least 5-6 weeks

Isaiah Hartenstein fractures hand, will miss at least 5-6 weeks

The Oklahoma City Thunder will begin the 2024-25 season without prized acquisition Isaiah Hartenstein, who suffered a non-displaced fracture in his left hand in Tuesday’s preseason game, ESPN NBA insider Shams Charania first reported Thursday.

He will be re-evaluated in five-to-six weeks, which likely means he could miss up to two months.

He got injured in the second half Tuesday against the Denver Nuggets. In 21 minutes, he finished with 11 points, three rebounds, three assists, one steal and one block.

Hartenstein, 26, signed a three-year, $87 million deal with Oklahoma City this offseason–a decision that wasn’t easy for him. He broke out with the Knicks last season as a result of Mitchell Robinson‘s ankle injuries, starting a career-high 49 games (after starting 12 combined in his prior five seasons) while averaging 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds and 2.5 assists in 25.3 minutes per game.

That said, even without the burly 7-foot big, the Thunder are still likely the best team in the West. It’s discouraging, however, because he was brought in as a big body to take the load off Chet Holmgren‘s shoulders. Hartenstein’s an elite rebounder, an exceptional short-roll playmaker with above-average defensive chops. He fits really well in this context, so it’s unfortunate that fans have to wait a little longer to see how it meshes in a regular season setting.

Oklahoma City can still run Holmgren at center with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Alex Caruso, Luguentz Dort, Jalen Williams and Holmgren. That’s a small lineup, but the SGA-Dort-Williams-Holmgren lineup played over 2,000 possessions together last season with a plus-8.5 NET Rating, per Cleaning The Glass.

The Thunder had the league’s best injury luck last season, but now have dealt with injuries to Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams (backup center) and Kenrich Williams. Outside of the frontcourt, the Thunder have plenty of redundancy, so I’m not worried about them long-term, though I’m interested to see how they fare in lineups without Holmgren while Williams and Hartenstein recover.

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