It took just two games for the hype train on former Gonzaga star and Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren to reach warp speed.
After a solid but not overwhelming debut, Holmgren was an absolute menace on Friday in OKC’s 108-105 win over Cleveland, posting 16 points, 13 rebounds, and seven(!) blocks – leading to an absolute frenzy on the app formerly known as Twitter.
Chet not only posted legitimate record-breaking numbers for a rookie, his trailing three pointer to tie the game in the final minute helped lead the Thunder to a victory, and his confidence to pull the trigger on this shot and knock it down certainly made opposing NBA GMs and coaches sweat a little.
Holmgren’s 16/13/7 line is not only a first for a rookie in NBA history, it also comes with three three pointers made. The only other player to ever post that line, at any age, is Kristaps Porzingis who did it back in 2016.
After not blocking a shot in his debut, Holmgren racked up at least seven blocks in his second game, with many of them coming against fellow young, lanky big man Evan Mobley out of USC. Here’s a clip of all seven blocks, and a tweet from Holmgren implying he should have been credited for more:
For the sake of time I’m not going to link every tweet that implies Holmgren should be the Rookie of the Year, but let’s just say the Holmgren-Wembanyama debate could end up being an all-timer throughout this season.
Holmgren and OKC take the floor again on Sunday against Julian Strawther and the defending champion Denver Nuggets, with tip-off starting at 12:30 PM PT.
Andy hosts the Locked on Zags and Locked on College Basketball podcasts, and serves Locked On in a marketing/digital content creator role as well. He lives just outside Portland with his wife Jenna and dog, Tillie.
Block party!!