When Isaiah Hartenstein first joined the Oklahoma City Thunder, one teammate he looked forward to playing with might’ve surprised folks at first. He mentioned Isaiah Joe in the same breath as Donte DiVincenzio.
Both players are sharpshooters who can benefit from off-ball movement around Hartenstein’s dribble handoffs. DiVincenzio had some of his best seasons on the New York Knicks thanks to that. And after last season, Joe can say the same.
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When you win an NBA championship, you need several role players to have simultaneous career seasons. The Thunder received that with Hartenstein and Joe. The former became a double-double machine while the latter was a double-digit scorer for the first time as a 41% outside shooter.
Anytime the Thunder needed a bucket with their bench lineups, Hartenstein was reliable as a secondary playmaker. Joe would move around him and let off decent looks from the outside. The seven-footer set a screen as soon as the ball left his hand.
Hartenstein connected with Joe for 31 assists last season. That’s the third-most to a teammate behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams.
Entering their second season together, Joe hopes to pick up right where he left off with Hartenstein as a two-man action. He talked about their chemistry at the 2025-26 training camp.
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“I think last year, we got a heavy dose of that. Now it’s second nature,” Joe said. “Not even with just Isaiah Hartenstein. Chet does it, J-Will does it at a really good job. We’re just trying to build.”
The Thunder will likely depend on Hartenstein and Joe to continue to be a reliable duo for their bench lineups. It’s one of the ways they can survive their two All-NBA players being off the floor at the same time. It helped them have a historic season of a 68-14 record.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Isaiah Joe on his growing chemistry with Isaiah Hartenstein