Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein is set to play his first regular season game for his new team on Wednesday against the Trail Blazers, per Rylan Stiles of Sports Illustrated.
Hartenstein had previously been upgraded to questionable for Wednesday’s contest after missing the first 15 games of the season.
Following a breakout year on a 50-win Knicks team in 2023/24, Hartenstein inked a three-season, $87MM deal with Oklahoma City over the summer. The seven-foot vet fractured his hand during the club’s preseason and has been on the shelf for the past five weeks.
Hartenstein’s comeback arrives not a moment too soon. Starting center Chet Holmgren has missed the last six contests with a hip fracture, while reserve big man Jaylin Williams has been sidelined due to a hamstring strain.
In the absence of his top three centers, head coach Mark Daigneault had been starting 6’5″ forward Jalen Williams at the five.
Stiles tweets that Hartenstein will come off the bench in his Thunder debut, while Williams will remain the club’s starting center against Portland.
Hartenstein, 26, emerged as a critical two-way interior force on the upstart Knicks last year. Across 75 healthy regular season contests (49 starts), he averaged 7.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 1.2 steals and 1.1 blocks a night. He proved even more invaluable during the playoffs, as many of his regular season rotation comrades fell by the wayside due to injuries.
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