Chet Holmgren‘s coaches and teammates expressed support for the embattled big man during the Thunder’s end-of-season interviews on Sunday, according to The Associated Press. Holmgren’s rough series in the Western Conference finals ended with a two-shot, four-point performance in Game 7, but head coach Mark Daigneault said he remains an important part of the structure in Oklahoma City.
“Every minute Chet Holmgren’s been on the team, we’ve been the 1 seed in the Western Conference,” Daigneault told reporters. “And it wasn’t the case before Chet was healthy.”
Holmgren is coming off his best statistical season, averaging career highs with 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He made his first All-Star Game appearance, received his first All-NBA honors and finished second in the voting for Defensive Player of the Year. However, none of that shielded him from criticism after he got badly outplayed by Spurs star Victor Wembanyama during the seven-game series.
Two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was among the players speaking out Sunday on behalf of Holmgren.
“We need Chet. We need Chet Holmgren,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Before Chet was here, we weren’t who we are today. We didn’t have the success we had today. When he’s the best version of himself, we’re the best version of ourselves and it’s no secret.”
There’s more from Oklahoma City:
- Kevin O’Connor of Yahoo Sports examines the case for trading Holmgren, noting that he’s had other playoff disappointments during the past two seasons and even during the NCAA Tournament at Gonzaga. O’Connor doesn’t completely advocate for a Holmgren trade, but points out that he has a history of durability issues and is about to get much more expensive when his rookie scale extension kicks in next season.
- General manager Sam Presti has handed out six extensions since the 2022/23 season, and Cason Wallace appears to be next in line, Bobby Marks of ESPN states in his offseason preview. The 22-year-old guard led the league in steals this season and earned All-Defensive honors for the first time. Marks notes that he held opponents to 41.6% from the field as the closest defender, which ranked fifth in the NBA, and in the playoffs he limited Austin Reaves, Devin Booker, Stephon Castle and Jalen Green to a combined 25% on three-point attempts.
- Nikola Topic is looking forward to making an impact after having his first two NBA seasons affected by a partially torn left ACL and then a diagnosis of testicular cancer. He hopes to ultimately benefit from those difficult experiences, relays Johnny Askounis of Eurohoops. “I learned a lot about myself,” Topic said. “I didn’t know how tough I was, honestly. It wasn’t the best, but I’m grateful I went through those experiences. I grew from those experiences as well. And it made me a better person today. And I wouldn’t be here if those things didn’t happen. I’m looking forward to getting ready to play.”
Thunder have some pretty major decisions to make. If they run it back, they’re DEEP in the 2nd apron and basically are stuck with what they have. Which is a lot, but a couple injuries and they cannot make a move. After 2026-27 it gets ridiculous, as SGA’s salary just explodes into the stratosphere (he “only” made $40m this year) and some of their young guys are due extensions. Their saving grace is supposed to be all those draft picks, but their own picks aren’t worth much and most of the others are from good teams, too, after this year. The best they have, probably, is a swap with the Clippers next year. They can renounce their club option guys this off-season (Lu Dort, Kenrich Williams, not Hartenstein) and try to get under the 2nd apron, and that’s probably what they’ll do. That will really hurt their depth though. It wouldn’t surprise me if the SBA grabs another victim next year, like the Nuggets before them and the Spurs next.
Does anyone expect any OKC player would say anything bad about Holmgren of course not. the organization will try to replace him which will be hard with his trade value way down. Just watch who they draft if it is a center that will tell their hand with him.
I think that’d be more of a Hartenstein replacement than a Chet replacement
I see OKC trading for like a Trey Murphy, Wendal Carter Jr/Jonathan Issac. They probably should trade for Giannis but I don’t think Presti does.
I’m wondering why people bring up Trey Murphy? Has he even been made available or are the pelicans shopping him?
Everything I’ve heard is that they aren’t shopping him?
Another thing is, he is head and shoulders above the two other players mentioned. Actually not even in the same league lol
Very hard to do in the 2nd apron. Nearly impossible actually, since the Thunder cannot aggregate salary. Even Isaac makes $14m. The only guy they have on the roster they can trade for either him or Carter is Caruso. They’d have to get under the apron first.
Okc will be fine. Jdub just needs to he healthy. Chet definitely needs to grow but he’s a 3/4 option on this team and he had a good series defensively.