The Oklahoma City Thunder are ready for takeoff next season with Chet Holmgren serving as the barometer for how high they can ultimately go.
The 21-year-old prospect missed the entire 2022-23 NBA season after severely injuring his foot during an offseason pro-am game. But now the Thunder big man is back and playing in NBA Summer League, flashing the potential that made him worthy of the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
After his first Summer League appearance of the year, Holmgren was asked about the state of his foot injury. The update he provided will sound like music to Thunder fans’ ears as he told a room full of reporters that he hardly even notices it at this point.
“The foot feels great. It’s like the injury never happened. … If you erased my memory, I wouldn’t know that anything had happened to my foot,” assured Holmgren.
Holmgren may have successfully overcome the foot injury, but getting back into playing shape is an entirely different matter. He admitted that it’s still a work in progress to get to that level before the start of next season.
“Conditioning-wise, there’s millions of hurdles that you have to go through in the process of returning to play. Not being able to play a game for a year is really hard to test and see where you are. … It’s definitely something that I have to continue to work on and I’ll be ready by the time training camp starts.”
Holmgren tallied 15 points and 9 rebounds across 29 minutes in his 2023 NBA Summer League debut. He also had several emphatic swats on the night, which reminded fans that he could potentially be the rim-protector Oklahoma City was missing all of last season. He also reportedly added some weight onto his relatively slight frame to help him keep up with the physicality of the NBA game.
With Holmgren joining a young, dynamic core of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Josh Giddey, and Jalen Williams this season, the Thunder may surprise some folks.
