Chet Holmgren Details Rehab Process, What to Expect This Season

The Oklahoma City Thunder are hoping to buck the current parity era trend in the NBA. The previous seven champions have failed to make it out of the second round of the following postseason. The Thunder are well set up to defend their title.

Not only do they head into the season healthy, but have locked up their core including the top three trio of superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, All-Star Jalen Williams and Rising Star Chet Holmgren.

A year ago, the Thunder captured its first championship while dealing with plenty of adversity. Isaiah Hartenstein, Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams, Alex Caruso and Holmgren all missed significant time in the regular season before a healthy playoff run pushed Oklahoma City to its June Championship.

Holmgren dealt with the most bumps in the road during the 2024-25 campaign. The Gonzaga product started out red hot, in the first nine games averaging 18.2 points, 9.2 rebounds, 2.2 assists, a steal and 2.9 blocks per game while shooting 52% from the floor, 40% from the 3-point line and 77% at the charity stripe on 5.4 attempts per game.

Then, in game ten, the Rising Star soared for a block attempt against the Golden State Warriors before splattering on the floor to shatter his hip. This left Holmgren bed ridden for a large chunk of the regular season before attacking his rehab process to return to the hardwood before even the Thunder's internal timeline projected him to.

On Monday, the OKC Thunder big man took to snap chat to answer a plethora of fan questions submitted through the platform. One of the topics that Holmgren addressed involved last year's rehab process and what to expect out of the rising star this upcoming season.

“I feel like I come back after every summer with something news, something that I worked on. I just gotta stay healthy, man. Last year, I was getting to all my different spots at the beginning of the year and then I got hurt. I didn’t quite feel like me when I came back," Holmgren detailed. "I came back pretty quickly. I was able to get it right this summer. I feel like I got a lot more to show. But it also depends on what the team needs me to do. What situations I end up seeing out there. How other teams are guarding me. I kinda worked on what I think I'll see and I'll feel pretty good about where I am at when the season starts."

If Holmgren can get back to the heights of his first nine games from a year ago, it makes the road to repeating as NBA champions a bit easier for the Oklahoma City Thunder. The Gonzaga product was a true three-level scorer, got to the free throw line at a high clip and continued to be one of the league's best defenders.

All eyes will be on the seven-footer as everyone expects a year three leap from the Thunder's center when training camp begins at the end of the month. Oklahoma City will open up the regular season on Oct. 21 against the Houston Rockets inside the Paycom Center.