{"id":857580,"date":"2026-08-16T18:44:17","date_gmt":"2026-08-16T18:44:17","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857580\/"},"modified":"2026-08-16T18:44:17","modified_gmt":"2026-08-16T18:44:17","slug":"hartenstein-on-returning-to-germany-always-wanted-to-play","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/857580\/","title":{"rendered":"Hartenstein on returning to Germany: \u201cAlways wanted to play\u201d"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net<\/a><\/p>\n

Oklahoma City Thunder<\/a> forward-center Isaiah Hartenstein is back with Germany\u2019s senior national team<\/a>, making it clear that his return is about far more than just adding another chapter to his international career.<\/p>\n

After more than eight years away from the program, the 28-year-old big is excited to represent Germany once again, having last worn the national team jersey back in February 2018 during a FIBA World Cup 2019 Qualifiers matchup against Georgia.\u00a0\u201cI\u2019m really happy,\u201d he stated in a recent interview with German media outlet Basketball World<\/a>. \u201cI actually wanted to play for the last two years.\u201d<\/p>\n

Hartenstein was entirely candid about his journey and the long absence, explaining the intense pressure to secure his NBA career.\u00a0\u201cFor the first four or five years, I had to prove myself in the NBA. It was important to me what the teams thought and how I could establish myself there. I was often told I should stay and train. But now that I\u2019m firmly established in the NBA and have found my role, I\u2019ve always wanted to play and give something back,\u201d he mentioned.<\/p>\n

Beyond his national team duties, Hartenstein maintains a deep connection to German hoops as an active investor in ratiopharm Ulm, where he regularly participates in club and youth events.<\/a> While acknowledging that some fans in Germany might see things a little differently and think he has not shown enough commitment, he attributes past absences to summer injuries and rehabilitation.<\/p>\n

\u201cI want to help the next generation and push German basketball so that when my son hopefully starts playing someday, the sport will be even bigger. I want people to be able to look back and say, \u2018we really did something for German basketball\u2019,\u201d he focused on the future of the sport.<\/p>\n

His timely return gives head coach Alex Mumbru a massive frontcourt boost. Germany is set to start Group K of the European Qualifiers with a commanding 5-1 record, sitting comfortably two games safe in the top-three zone to secure a spot in next summer\u2019s FIBA World Cup 2027.<\/p>\n

Read the latest News<\/a><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By Johnny Askounis\/ info@eurohoops.net Oklahoma City Thunder forward-center Isaiah Hartenstein is back with Germany\u2019s senior national team, making…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":857581,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[574],"tags":[64,63,726,85],"class_list":["post-857580","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-basketball","tag-au","tag-australia","tag-basketball","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857580","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=857580"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/857580\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/857581"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=857580"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=857580"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/au\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=857580"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}