Although Chet Holmgren is in the midst of a sensational rookie year as a catalyst for the Oklahoma City Thunder's 36-17 season, the journey to get here was far from easy.
That was the focus for the latest issue of SLAM Magazine, where Holmgren graced the cover with his story of battling through injury last season and making his long-awaited debut in the NBA.
After getting drafted by the Thunder with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Holmgren suffered a Lisfranc fracture in a CrawsOver Pro-Am game that resulted in his career being set back an entire year. It was a huge blow to the Oklahoma City fanbase that felt immense excitement for the pick, but the disappointment was larger for Holmgren himself than anyone else.
“I’m doing imaging, I’m sitting on the doctor’s table and I’m talking to Presti, and I’m just falling apart because he just drafted me two months, month and a half prior, and it’s like, you want to kind of validate his belief in you and the organization’s belief in you. And then you get hurt and you feel like you let everybody down, even though I wasn’t wrong for it, I was trying to get better and trying to hoop,” said Holmgren.
Distress set in for the seven-footer, feeling hurt that all of the work and preparation crumbled in a matter of seconds. Thunder general manager Sam Presti provided support for him, however, ensuring him that everything would work out in the end.
Holmgren underwent surgery nine days following the initial injury, starting the long process to get back on the court. Life became much different for the 21-year-old, making mundane tasks complicated and forcing him to move around on a scooter.
And once the rookie got past the early stages and back to playing basketball, the foot injury became easier to deal with than other areas of his body. Sitting on the sidelines for so long deconditions the body, causing further injury and setbacks.
“So, your foot’s good now, but now your back’s weak, so your back is getting tight, and then now your knee hurts ’cause you haven’t been putting that pressure on it and keeping it as strong. And then you got shin splints ’cause you’ve been sitting out for so long. So, it’s like all the little things around it pop up. But if you’re able to manage that and then kind of stay on top of it, over time it’ll go away," Holmgren said.
After a long and draining 13 months, Holmgren's return was finally set for Summer League in Salt Lake City against the Utah Jazz, where he recorded 15 points, nine rebounds and four blocks. The anticipation was palpable for the rookie, causing him to get excited upon entering the game and quickly putting up a terrible shot.
“It was an awful shot. And nobody looked at me wrong for it—cause I feel like everybody understood—but at the same time it was a terrible shot," Holmgren said. "I just wanted to make sure I came out aggressive, ’cause I was ready to play. I’d been waiting 13 months to play. There was a lot of emotion around it."
It was the first entry into an incredible rookie campaign, where Holmgren is currently averaging 16.8 points, 7.5 rebounds, 2.7 assists and 2.6 blocks per game. He's been right at the top of the Rookie of the Year race alongside the San Antonio Spurs' phenom Victor Wembanyama, another big man with a freakish skillset.
Few rookies in recent memory have shown the ability to make such a high impact on an organization's success, quickly cementing himself as Oklahoma City's defensive cornerstone. Even with his perceived weak frame at the center position, Holmgren has more than held his own amongst the league's best, proving himself to be one of its brightest young stars.
In just one season into his professional career, Holmgren is already competing for an NBA Championship alongside a talented, but young, Thunder squad. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams round-out what could be considered a "big three", and the sky is the limit for what the group could accomplish in the future.
“I mean, I don’t have expectations, but at the same time, I’m not surprised by anything that I do,” Holmgren said. “I feel like whatever I go out there and do is an accumulation of the work that I’ve put in. I know what I can do. I know what I need to work on. And what I go out there and do are things that I’ve been working on my whole life. So, am I surprised by what I’m doing? No.”
Getting to this point took an entirely different direction than Holmgren could have expected or hoped for, but the adversity he was forced to face could have as big of an impact on his career than anything. He knows what it's like to be at his lowest, which many players don't get the opportunity to see until it's too late.
Although the past two years have been a journey for the rookie in their own right, the journey is far from its conclusion.
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