Chet Holmgren: ‘I haven’t proven s–t.’
Oklahoma City Thunder big Chet Holmgren has been having a very productive first healthy season in the NBA. Holmgren was the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA draft, missing last season with a foot injury.
To open up this year, Holmgren has played in all 31 of his games, averaging 17.7 points, 7.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 2.7 blocks while shooting 54.3 percent from the field and 40 percent from 3-point range.
Holmgren’s production has made him the favorite to win Rookie of The Year to this point in the season. With fans around the league believing as much. However, Holmgren feels he has much more to go after speaking to reporters today.
“I haven’t proven s–t,” Holmgren said. “I’ve played 30 games.”
Fixing a Franchise:
The Thunder have slowly but surely worked their way back to relevance in the NBA. In an era now that doesn’t include the names, Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook. This Thunder team is led by a star guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and other key contributors, including Holmgren.
The Thunder enjoy a 22-9 record, compared to a 13-18 start last year. If they maintain this pace, they’re looking at their best season since 2013-14, when it finished 59-23; if Chet Holmgren can remain healthy, it will be hard not to look at him as the Rookie of The Year ahead of Victor Wembanyama, Jaime Jaquez Jr. and Brandon Miller, among others.
Especially with the turnaround OKC has had through the first half of the season. Even though he remains humble about his contributions, they cannot be overstated. Holmgren had helped lead OKC to a top-2 defense in the NBA compared to 19th the year before, directly reflecting on OKC being the No. 2 seed in the Western Conference at the moment.
With 2024 now upon us, we are getting closer and closer to the second half of the NBA season. If OKC keeps up this high level of basketball they’re playing, it may lead to bigger and better things as soon as this season.
Chet Holmgren deserves every bit of credit, whether he accepts it or not. He’s proving the hype is right by how he and this Thunder team have competed game in and game out.
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