The Cleveland Cavaliers recently traded JaVale McGee to the Denver Nuggets in return for Isaiah Hartenstein, a 2023 second-round pick (top-46 protected), and a 2027 second-round pick. Cleveland generated a $4.2 million trade exception for McGee, too.
Meanwhile, Hartenstein is a player that many NBA fans are unfamiliar with, however, he could bring a lot to the table for the Cavaliers. Hartenstein began his NBA career as the 43rd overall pick of the 2017 NBA Draft to the Houston Rockets.
He spent two seasons in Houston where he averaged 3.1 points on 59.3 percent shooting (with most of his attempts near the basket), to go with 2.7 rebounds, and 0.5 blocks per game in only 9.5 minutes outing. Albeit for context, Hartenstein only had 51 appearances in his two seasons with Houston.
Hartenstein would then be waived last summer by the Rockets, and ended up signing a two-year deal with the Nuggets, with the second season due to be a $1.8 million player option. And for reference, the Cavaliers were reportedly a team interested in signing him this past offseason, per Cleveland.com’s Chris Fedor.
In 30 games with the Denver Nuggets, Hartenstein averaged 3.5 points on 51.3 percent shooting, 2.8 rebounds, and 0.7 blocks per game.
Hartenstein again, while not having gotten much burn to this point, has been a solid rolling/diving presence as a vertical threat, and has a lot of potential. He stands at 7-foot and weighs 250 pounds.
Hartenstein will likely get that opportunity with the Cleveland Cavaliers. With the Cavs trading their backup center in JaVale McGee to get Hartenstein, it is likely that he will be getting minutes as the team’s new center off of the bench.
Hartenstein plays a very similar game to McGee, but, he is a little over a decade younger.
So what can Hartenstein bring to the Cavs?
One of the things that Hartenstein will bring to the Cleveland Cavaliers is a consistent level of play at the center position in backup 5 burn in relief of Jarrett Allen for spurts.
Both Jarrett Allen and Isaiah Hartenstein have very similar styles of play. They are both centers that you think of when talking about the centers of the 90s and eras before. Both players are essentially non-shooters outside of the paint, but are both athletic and move really well without the ball.
That said, when they are in the paint they are a force to be reckoned with. When looking at Hartenstein’s per 36-minute stats throughout his career, it highlights just what kind of player he can be with the Cavaliers under the right circumstances.
Throughout his career, his per 36-minute stats are 12.5 points, 10.5 rebounds, and 2.1 blocks per game.
Although it is almost certain that Hartenstein will not be seeing anywhere near 36 minutes per game with the Cavaliers, these stats show his strong suits and what he can bring to the team.
Some of his biggest strengths come from consistent inside scoring, rebounding and interior defense, which should the likes of Darius Garland, Collin Sexton and others.
There will certainly be too many redundancies between Allen and Hartenstein for them to hardly ever see the court together. Albeit Cavs head coach J.B. Bickerstaff should be able to stagger their minutes enough to where the Wine and Gold will have an intimidating presence inside the paint at all times, though.