Coming off his untimely foot injury last year, Chet Holmgren showed out against the Dallas Mavericks for the Thunder's Summer League opener in Las Vegas. Holmgren dropped 16 points (5-of-10 shooting, including 1-of-4 from 3-point range) and 10 rebounds.
He also played during the California Classic Summer League match-up against the Utah Jazz last July 3. Chet Holmgren managed to shake off some rust and put up 15 points (6-of-14 shooting) and nine rebounds.
However, during yesterday's game against the Houston Rockets, Chet Holmgren, Jalin Williams, Tre Mann, and several other OKC players were out. This led Fan Nation's "Inside the Thunder" to believe that Holmgren, along with these players will remain sidelined until preseason begins.
Chet Holmgren's status for the game tonight against the Indiana Pacers is still uncertain at this time with no further updates from the OKC Thunder's injury report.
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Chet Holmgren on the adjustment in playing after recovering from his foot injury last year
Chet Holmgren was selected second overall by the OKC Thunder in the 2022 NBA Draft. However, during an exhibition game over the summer last year, Holmgren sustained an untimely foot injury, resulting in a missed 2022-23 rookie debut.
With a successful recovery, he has been performing well as of late in the Summer League games, as he talked about in an interview following the Thunder's 91-80 win over the Dallas Mavericks.
"You don't have to take a second look at me to know I'm not the biggest dude width-wise," Holmgren said, "so I've got to be physical. Otherwise, the game's not going to go in my favor when it gets physical, so I've got to hit first."
Alongside Holmgren, the Thunder have a number of young excellent players that his game will be able to complement. Shai Gilgeous-Alexendar, Josh Giddey, and Jalen Williams to only name a few, have all seen some play-in action last season that can benefit the young core's growth and development moving forward.
This was highlighted by Holmgren during the post-game interview.
"We have a great group of guys with a lot of different talents," Holmgren said, "and I feel like I can complement a lot of these dudes, and these dudes complement me as well."
Throughout the Summer League games that Holmgren has played in, the 21-year-old has continued to show the upside to his game, especially with the height advantage. However, it remains to be seen if his skillset will translate well enough against NBA-level competitions.
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