Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has not wavered in his support of his Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Chet Holmgren.
Fans piled on Holmgren for looking like a shell of himself against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. Holmgren took just two shots and tallied four points in the Thunder’s Game 7 ouster.
On Sunday, Gilgeous-Alexander was asked about potentially having conversations with Holmgren to address his underperformance against the Thunder’s West rivals.
“Nah, I haven’t talked to Chet about that,” SGA told reporters. “I won’t. I also don’t feel like I need to.”
“I didn’t perform my greatest this series either, and Chet won’t come to me with a development plan for this summer. Chet knows how much I care about this game and want to be the best version of myself every night I’m out there on the floor, and I know how much Chet loves this game and wants to be the best version himself out there every night on the floor — and sometimes it just doesn’t go that way, for whatever reason that is.”
Gilgeous-Alexander added that he has “no doubt” Holmgren will figure things out and that the current version of Holmgren the world saw underwhelm against the Spurs was “the worst version” fans will ever see for the rest of his NBA career.
While improvement in the NBA is rarely linear, Holmgren’s regression in the Western Conference Finals was alarming to say the least. During last year’s championship run, the All-Star big man averaged 15.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks across 23 games en route to a title.
In seven games against the Spurs, Holmgren’s numbers dropped to 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks while looking terrified to attack Wembanyama whenever the two were matchup up.
It’s possible Holmgren does use the experience as motivation to be better going forward. But with how poorly he played against Wemby, fans will have to see it to believe it.
