The Cleveland Cavaliers ended up trading JaVale McGee on Thursday morning to the Denver Nuggets in exchange for Isaiah Hartenstein and two future second-round picks (the 2023 one was top-46 protected and the 2027 one was unprotected). The Cavs reportedly generated a $4.2 million trade exception for McGee as well.
McGee, who had done a nice job for Cleveland this season after being acquired via trade from the Los Angeles Lakers, paired with a 2026 second-round pick, has had 8.0 points, 5.2 rebounds and 1.2 blocks per outing for the Cavs. That was in backup 5 burn in 15.2 minutes per contest in what was first for Andre Drummond, and then mostly Jarrett Allen.
Drummond/his camp, as a side note, is reportedly working out a buyout agreement with the Cavaliers, as a side note.
Anyway, while Cleveland will miss McGee a bit in the near term, and he was reportedly a key locker room presence, I can’t necessarily blame the Cavs for wanting to seemingly add a few assets for him. He is a 33-year-old backup big, too, for what it’s worth.
So how could Hartenstein factor in with the Cavaliers, then? Hartenstein, who is just 22, like Allen, was originally a second-round pick in 2017 by the Houston Rockets, and began his career in 2018-19 with them. He played sparingly on Houston in his two seasons with them, though, and didn’t appear much with the Nuggets in his time with them during this season.
He’s appeared in 30 games after originally signing a two-year, minimum deal with Denver before this season, however, which was more than in either of his first two seasons with Houston. He had played 9.1 minutes per outing, mostly giving Nikola Jokic a breather.
He’s averaged 3.5 points and 2.8 rebounds in his spot burn in 2020-21, and while the appearances were few and far between, his splits were 3.1 points and 2.7 boards in those in two years with Houston.
Albeit again, so how can Hartenstein factor into with the Cavs?
He’s not McGee at this point, but Hartenstein can be a serviceable backup 5 in spurts for the Cavs.
To reiterate, Hartenstein has not had much burn to this point in his career in the league. He has shown some nice touch inside and with push shots some, though, and is more than capable in a lob/dunker spot role in spurts spelling Jarrett Allen.
Now, he’s a raw at this point, but for a backup 5, to me, Hartenstein as a dive threat/lob player in instances with Darius Garland and/or with Quinn Cook, perhaps, a bit (we’ll have to see if he’ll get a rest-of-season deal) should be serviceable. He displayed that some some with Houston and during this season, in some spurts with Denver.
Additionally, while it was in the G League with Houston’s G League Affiliate, the Rio Grande Valley Vipers, Hartenstein did make his presence felt in a big way in the last two seasons with them. And in 2019-20, he had 24.9 points,14.8 rebounds and even 4.2 assists per outing. That was in 15 appearances.
Point being, perhaps he could be a player with some untapped potential; we’ll have to see, albeit he’s not a shooting presence at this point.
Nonetheless, Hartenstein is a solid screener off-ball as well, which should aid shooters, such as the likes of Collin Sexton to some extent, along with Dylan Windler and/or Cedi Osman. The same could maybe go for Kevin Love if/when he’s back, and for Dean Wade.
On the defensive end, Hartenstein is not a guy that’s switchable, really, but on the interior, he can hold his own fairly well, and as a true 7-footer, like McGee, can help by playing with verticality. That should be meaningful for Cleveland’s defense in some run.
Hartenstein also has had a robust 2.1 blocks per-36 minutes in his rotational burn thus far with the Rockets and Nuggets, and with Denver this season, has had 2.6 rejections per-36, which shows some promise to me in that regard.
So while that’s not in the McGee rim protection realm, it does demonstrate that he can be a dude that should be a legit rim protector and aid Allen in a backup 5 sense.
Factoring in both ends of the floor, Hartenstein is definitely a capable rebounder when given the opportunities, too, and could help provide energy for Cleveland in some spurts.
Moreover, though he has a ways to go, also with the draft capital included, the Cavs may something here in Hartenstein, at least as a serviceable backup 5. He has a $1.8 million player option for next season, so we’ll have to see if he’ll end up potentially playing himself into a better contract if he can prove to be viable.
But either way, Hartenstein, to me, while not McGee currently, should be a capable backup 5, and should provide some energy for the Cavs in non-Allen minutes. Perhaps Cleveland looks to sign another 5/combo 4/5 here soon with them at 13 rostered players, albeit Hartenstein should still get his reserve burn.