An NBA championship won’t turn the Oklahoma City Thunder complacent. After one of the greatest seasons ever, they will enter the 2025-26 campaign as the consensus title favorite and a giant target on their back. Such things come with the territory of wearing the crown.
Entering the second season together, Chet Holmgren and Isaiah Hartenstein have had quite a busy offseason together. They’ve traveled across the globe and dropped sweat in several different gyms. While they won a championship together in Year 1, there’s still room to grow.
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The Thunder had a 12.5 net rating with Holmgren and Hartenstein on the floor together in the regular season. That’s an impressive number. The only caveat is that they only logged 316 minutes together. Injuries to both seven-footers throughout the year prevented a larger sample.
The Holmgren-Hartenstein frontcourt more than made up for it in the playoffs. They started in 20 of 23 playoff games together. In 239 minutes, they had a 4.9 net rating. Obviously not the giant number in their regular season total, but still good enough considering the margin of error in the playoffs dramatically shrinks as the stakes get higher.
That’ll be a fun lineup to watch in the 2025-26 regular season. Perhaps with better injury luck, Holmgren and Hartenstein can establish themselves as another tool for the Thunder to use. It looks like plenty of groundwork has happened this offseason.
Holmgren and Hartenstein once again worked out together. This time, it was at a Los Angeles Lakers gym. Holmgren worked on his pull-up jumper while Hartenstein backed him up in the post.
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We’re on the doorstep of training camp. Expect Holmgren and Hartenstein to get even more time to practice together as the Thunder kick off the 2025-26 regular season with Opening Night. After they get handed their championship ring, the journey for the second starts.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein have offseason workout at Lakers gym