That’s a wrap on the 2025-26 season for the Los Angeles Lakers after they fell 115-110 to the Oklahoma City Thunder in Game 4 of their second-round series. For both Lakers fans and the team's front office, it's time to now look towards the offseason and what can be changed to further maximize the Luka Doncic window.Â
All season long, the center spot was a major area of weakness for LA, and this series only exposed that further. What these four games with OKC also exposed was that the team's perfect solution was sitting right in front of them in Isaiah Hartenstein.
The Thunder big man gave the Lakers fits on the inside and picked apart his matchups with either Deandre Ayton or Jaxson Hayes nightly. With him having a club option worth $28.5 million for next season and the Thunder likely having to cut back on some costs, he is projected to be an unrestricted free agent this summer.
If this scenario becomes a reality, the Lakers have to do all they can to lure I-Hart to come play with Luka in Hollywood.
Isaiah Hartenstein is the type of center LA has been searching for
Hartenstein has always had the connective winning playstyle that teams yearn for at the center spot.
His ability to read and react to the game on both ends of the court is his greatest strength, whether it’s offering weakside rim protection help or making a pass out of a short roll—his IQ is always on display. While plus-minus is by no means a perfect stat, it can be an indicator of the impact and IQ a player has. In the series’ final two games, he led in plus-minus both times. Hartenstein was a combined plus-56 across the pair of contests played in Los Angeles.Â
As far as the series goes, Hartenstein averaged 8.8 points, 9.3 rebounds, 3.0 assists, and 2.6 stocks (steals plus blocks) per game while shooting 80 percent from the field.
Going from Ayton to Hartenstein this summer would be like showing up to a barbecue, and instead of burgers and hot dogs, they've got steaks and lobsters cooking up.Â
I-Hart does a little bit of everything, and for a Lakers team that struggled in so many margins, especially when Luka was off the court, adding him would be a massive boost. He gives the team someone who can command and be trusted to stabilize the offense through the non-Luka minutes, thanks to his playmaking instincts.
He is also a major upgrade in terms of rebounding, as OKC was in the 98th percentile in offensive rebounding when he was on the court, according to Cleaning the Glass.
Hartenstein is the perfect mix of an elite connective offensive center and rim-protecting glass cleaner who checks two boxes in one player for the Lakers. Ideally, all season, LA needed Hayes and Ayton to fuse together and be one player. Hartenstein is like a supercharged version of that player.
If the Lakers are serious about being towards the top of the Western Conference next season, finding Doncic a stable paint presence is key. The second round of the postseason showed there is no better option to fill that much-needed void at the five than Hartenstein.
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