OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 Chet Holmgren sauntered into the Thunder interview room on Media Day a couple of weeks ago, crammed himself into a folding chair and waited for the heavy questions that would come.<\/p>\n
For someone with such thin shoulders, the 7-foot-1 Holmgren sure bears a big burden on the future of Oklahoma\u2019s NBA franchise.<\/p>\n
Four months earlier, we saw Holmgren wilt against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference finals. In Game 7, Holmgren had four points, four rebounds and only two shots, in almost 33 minutes of court time. A ghastly, or ghostly, performance in the season\u2019s biggest game. Yet not too much out of order from the rest of the series. Holmgren averaged 10.7, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocked shots over the seven games, numbers well below his season average.<\/p>\n
Not the most comforting performance going into an off-season in which the Thunder traded away some world-class depth in order to keep paying the stars. Holmgren included.<\/p>\n
Holmgren\u2019s new contract kicks in this season. The former Gonzaga standout jumps from $13.7 million a year to $41.5 million this season as part of a five-year deal that is worth about $190 million. Jalen Williams has virtually the same contract, up from $6.58 million last season.<\/p>\n
No wonder Sam Presti traded Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe. Next season, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander\u2019s salary climbs from $40.8 million to $61 million a year. No matter how many revenue streams the Thunder\u2019s new arena will produce, it\u2019s being built a block from Bricktown, not Midtown Manhattan.<\/p>\n
Which means Holmgren and Williams have to be the stars they are purported to be and mostly have been. Williams made third-team all-NBA in 2025, and his ascension has been slowed only by injury. Holmgren made third-team all-NBA in 2026, and his ascension has been slowed by San Antonio\u2019s 7-foot-5 Frenchman. Wembanyama is not just in Holmgren\u2019s way; Wembanyama is in Holmgren\u2019s head.<\/p>\n
On Media Day, Holmgren addressed the Game 7 and West finals questions the way he approaches most things. Monotone. Emotionless. Matter of fact. And the fact was, the Thunder needs Holmgren to be better, way better, if another championship is headed to Oklahoma.<\/p>\n
\u201cI learned a lot from the year that we won it (2025), and I honestly think that my approach was very similar\u201d this summer, Holmgren said. \u201cObviously the emotions of it were different, but I don\u2019t think my process changed at all.<\/p>\n
\u201cAfter we won it, obviously it\u2019s good emotions. You\u2019re at the highest of highs, but at some point \u2013 which was still relatively pretty quick \u2013 you have to flush those emotions and look at the reality of what the tape is and then figure out how you can kind of improve on those things.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019d say that was no different after last season. Obviously different emotions, but you still have to get to a baseline where you can look at things objectively and then figure out how to try to improve from there.\u201d<\/p>\n
Didn\u2019t seem complicated to most of us. Holmgren, not particularly aggressive offensively anyway, went into a shell with Wembanyama on the court. Holmgren seemed leery of even attempting a shot if the French Resistance was anywhere close.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s got to change. Even if Wembanyama blocks Holmgren\u2019s first shot to Pawhuska and his second shot to Poteau, Holmgren must stay aggressive. That\u2019s on opening night on Oct. 20 and that\u2019s in another potential Game 7 and that\u2019s every Thunder-Spurs showdown in between. The Thunder never ceases to remind us that champions are built by stacking habits; Holmgren has become a star by doing exactly that. And this new habit, a no-fear policy against Wembanyama, must be built throughout the season.<\/p>\n
Gilgeous-Alexander expressed confidence that Holmgren will put the Western Conference finals behind him.<\/p>\n
\u201cI mean, Chet\u2019s a really, really good basketball player,\u201d said Gilgeous-Alexander, who called Holmgren a \u201ccornerstone\u201d for the Thunder.<\/p>\n
\u201cBasketball is like life; it goes ups and downs. I mean, he works super hard. He has the right intentions. He gets the job done every night. He\u2019s super motivated,\u201d Gilgeous-Alexander said.<\/p>\n
\u201cAnd just because he had a bad outing to some doesn\u2019t mean those things change about him. He\u2019s the same guy, same character.\u201d<\/p>\n
Thunder teammates long have marveled at Holmgren\u2019s drive and determination. General manager Sam Presti says that won\u2019t change.<\/p>\n
\u201cI don\u2019t think it\u2019s a matter of responding necessarily to that one series,\u201d Presti said. \u201cI think he\u2019s just an intrinsically driven guy who\u2019s going to get better. There\u2019s a series of players on our team that are probably three or four years from really being at peak level, a majority of the team, quite frankly.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe have three guys, two of which are not even in their prime, that are all-NBA players, and also the other guy that\u2019s a back-to-back MVP (Gilgeous-Alexander), and he\u2019s only getting better as well in his prime. Chet is going to get better for many, many years from here.\u201d<\/p>\n
That\u2019s certainly the NBA historical trend. Holmgren is 24; he won\u2019t turn 25 until May. Most 24-year-old NBA stars improve, usually dramatically.<\/p>\n
That\u2019s what the Thunder is banking on. That\u2019s why they traded depth and likely will trade more. A trio of Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren are more difficult to accumulate than even a deep roster.<\/p>\n
Holmgren was second in Defensive Player of the Year voting, a first-time all-star, all-NBA, anchoring the league\u2019s best defense, all in a season after winning the championship.<\/p>\n
\u201cHe didn\u2019t play his best basketball in the series, but as I pointed out at that time, all the great players in NBA history, that\u2019s what makes them great,\u201d Presti said. \u201cThey encounter these moments, they confront them, and they battle and they learn from those and get better.<\/p>\n
\u201cI\u2019m pretty confident that\u2019s kind of the trajectory he\u2019s going to take. But sure, there\u2019s things he\u2019s focused on and he\u2019s worked on.\u201d<\/p>\n
Hopefully most of that work is mental, so that Holmgren won\u2019t back down from the giant in San Antonio.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"OKLAHOMA CITY \u2013 Chet Holmgren sauntered into the Thunder interview room on Media Day a couple of weeks…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":881527,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[64],"tags":[355,99],"class_list":["post-881526","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-nba","tag-nba","tag-sports"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881526","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=881526"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/881526\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/881527"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=881526"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=881526"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/us\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=881526"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}