The Phoenix Suns took a loss to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Monday, and nobody was exactly stunned by the result. But the game still offered something useful for Phoenix in the long run: a front-row lesson from Isaiah Hartenstein for 20-year-old center Khaman Maluach.
Hartenstein controlled the glass for Oklahoma City, leading the team with 13 rebounds while adding 15 points on 6-of-7 shooting. His game was a reminder of how much a big man can tilt a night without needing to dominate the ball.
One of the most useful pieces of Hartenstein’s toolkit is the push/floater hybrid he has been using for years. With Maluach’s size, there is no reason he can’t work that same touch shot into his own offense.
Hartenstein also serves as a model in the dirty work category. He’s excellent at setting screens for reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, helping create the space Gilgeous-Alexander uses to snake around defenders and get open.
Even while living in the paint on most possessions, Hartenstein still finds ways to open things up for his teammates. That is the sort of skill set Maluach would love to develop, and his body type and quickness give him a chance to do it.
There is one area where Hartenstein can’t really tutor him, though: the Suns’ lack of size. That showed up when head coach Jordan Ott tried to use Miles Bridges as the big man in a small-ball lineup, and the Thunder tore it apart.
Hartenstein is working with a roster packed with big, intimidating defenders. Maluach is trying to do the same job with Bridges and Dillon Brooks alongside him.
That makes patience important. Hartenstein was drafted by the Houston Rockets, and he played just 46 games combined during the 2020-21 season for the Denver Nuggets and Cleveland Cavaliers. It took him more than half a decade to leave his real mark on the league, and despite the Suns talking up Maluach extensively, he is going to need a similar runway.
The difference is that Maluach already brings something Hartenstein does not: a credible 3-point shot. Even if he never becomes as effective or as sharp at helping teammates on both ends, that range could make Devin Booker’s life easier in The Valley and help Maluach earn more minutes.
Hartenstein was the standard on Monday, and he helped the Thunder beat the Suns. But he also gave Maluach a glimpse of the level he can still grow into.
In Other News...
Suns Suddenly Have Real Trade Leverage With West Contender
Oklahoma Citys 4-0 start has done little to ease the strain of losing Jalen Williams and Cason Wallace for the long haul, and that reality has quietly created an opening for Phoenix. The Thunder have the kind of depth and ambition that usually keeps them in the market for help, and from the Suns point of view, that makes a couple of their rotation pieces suddenly look more valuable than they did a week ago.
Ryan Dunn and Jordan Goodwin fit the sort of profile a contender can talk itself into when injuries start to squeeze the margins, especially if Oklahoma City wants to patch specific holes without reshaping its core. For Phoenix, the bigger point is not that a deal is close, but that a team with clear needs and an obvious timeline has given the Suns real leverage if those conversations keep moving. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are Already Wasting Devin Bookers Best Work
Through three games, the Suns have already leaned hard on Devin Bookers scoring to keep themselves afloat, and that has become its own early-season storyline in Phoenix. At 1-2, the bigger issue is not Bookers output, but how often the team seems to be asking him to cover for a roster and rotation that do not always make his job easier.
The criticism around the Suns has quickly turned toward roster construction and coaching choices, with outside voices pointing to recent trades and lineup tweaks that appear to have pulled them away from the formula that worked better last season. For a team built around Bookers prime years, the concern is obvious: if this is the way the opening stretch looks, it raises the question of whether Phoenix is making the most of its best player at the very moment it can least afford to waste him. [Read more 🡒]
Suns Are Feeling Oso Ighodaros Absence More Than Expected
Oso Ighodaros oblique injury has become more than a temporary lineup note for the Suns. The second-round pick has been out with no clear return date, and the effects have shown up in ways that go beyond the box score, with Phoenix losing some of the extra ball movement and defensive activity he helped provide. His value has been tied as much to organization and versatility as to any scoring output, which is part of why his absence has been noticeable.
What has stood out is how much the Suns leaned on Ighodaro as a connective piece on both ends. His absence has come with drops in assist and steal percentages, a sign that Phoenix has missed his ability to facilitate offense and switch defensively across different matchups. For a team that wants flexible, reliable minutes from every spot on the floor, replacing that kind of presence is not as simple as plugging in another body. [Read more 🡒]