Though it may have taken them 50 games, the OKC Thunder are finally starting to utilize the highly anticipated double-big lineups consisting of star Chet Holmgren and splashy offseason addition Isaiah Hartenstein.
During the first few goes at the experiment, the lineup configuration appeared to be a bit clunky from an offensive and overall floor spacing perspective. Even Jalen Williams acknowledged that it had been a challenge “trying to figure out where everybody is” on the court.
However, in Oklahoma City’s first lick of action following the All-Star break, signs of life started to shine through during their Friday night bout against the Utah Jazz as the tandem helped lead the charge to a massive lopsided 130-107 win.
From Holmgren’s 20 points to Hartenstein’s 13 boards (four of which came on the offensive end), the two clearly put forth their best showing as a duo in 2024-25. Following the contest, Chet revealed the main attribute that he believes had aided in and will continue to impact their on-court success.
Holmgren reveals Thunder double-big lineup leaning on ‘trust’ to succeed
“We always have to kind of toe the line of being aggressive to the point where we’re working on our stuff at this point in the season but also staying sharp. We missed a good portion of the season to do that so it’s really important that we keep the trust in each other, no matter what five guys are on the floor, to trust that we have the right intentions that we’re always trying to make the right plays. They’re not always going to end up perfect. Just trust in that when we continue to make those plays we’re going to f*ck it up until we get it right,” Holmgren said.
While the look of this dual-big frontcourt pairing may not always be the prettiest, with a prime example coming at around the eight-minute mark in the first quarter when I-Hart threw a failed lob pass to a driving Hartenstein, so far the advanced metrics are suggesting they have been quite effective together.
With both seven-footers on the hardwood, the Thunder sport a ridiculous net rating of +26.5 while holding opposing teams to a mere 97.8 points per 100 possessions.
Now, while this may be a rather small sample size, as they’ve seen a total of just 136 possessions played alongside one another all season, even cutting their net rating in half would still have them playing at quite an elite level.
What’s exciting about the Hartenstein and Holmgren partnership is that the 22-year-old is only just getting back into the swing of things following his multi-month, injury-induced shelving, as he even mentioned following the win over Utah that he feels like he’s finally getting his “swag” back.
With more run and repetitions, there’s a chance that Oklahoma City’s double-big lineup could be a key factor in their hopeful title run this postseason.
Over these final few months of regular season action it’ll be exciting to see how Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein can continue to grow together.
So long as they have trust in one another, it seems Holmgren is confident in their potential.