How Will OKC Thunder Navigate Isaiah Hartenstein Injury?

How Will the OKC Thunder navigate missing Isaiah Hartenstein?

Luckily for the Bricktown Ballers they have already built up a cushion in the rough and tumble Western Conference, holding a four game lead over the No. 2 seeded Los Angeles Lakers as the team has gotten off to a hot start leading the league in net rating and defensive rating by a wide margin.

However, losing Hartenstein is a big blow, there is no dancing around that. Though, with the Thunder's depth they are more equipped than any other team to withstand being down a starter. Mark Daigneault will have to get creative, which is his favorite thing to do.

This absence will put Chet Holmgren as the lone big man on the floor far more often than we have seen to date during the 2025-26 campaign, something Daigneault calls a "weapon" and "tool" for this roster. With his three-level scoring ability, this move should see an offensive jolt for the Thunder, while sacrificing their competitiveness on the glass.

The team will have to lean even harder on third string big man Jaylin Williams who is starting to find his groove as a shooter and while he is no where near the rebound gobbler or post defender that Hartenstein is, he can replicate some of the high-post passing lost by the seven year veteran.

Now that the Santa Clara product has returned to the fold expect Oklahoma City to deploy more small ball lineups throughout this stretch, as they did on Friday against the Suns in Williams' season debut. This has been a look known for throwing matchups out of sorts and forcing the opposition to bend to their style of play often times falling short of putting out a competent small ball unit. Kenrich Williams will also be big in this department as the TCU product is two games into his season but shooting 50% from downtown on the young season.

Oklahoma City is no stranger to missing key figures in their front court, a season ago going through stretches without a single healthy big. They saw two-way big man Branden Carlson fill in admirably in that time having a career night against the Cleveland Cavaliers a year ago and will likely be called on again over the next 10 to 14 days.

Optionality is the name of the game for OKC, they remain versatile against this injury riddled stretch of basketball. While they would much prefer to have Hartenstein in the rotation, they should be able to manage without him and allow a full recovery for the seven-footer.