Some worrying reports emerged on Wednesday regarding second overall pick Chet Holmgren, revealing that he had potentially suffered torn ligaments in his foot while playing in the Jamal Crawford CrawsOver Pro-Am this weekend.
We now have a full injury diagnosis for Holmgren and it is potentially far worse than many had initially anticipated.
It has been reported on Thursday that Holmgren will miss the entirety of his 2022-23 rookie season due to a Lisfranc injury in his right foot.
Oklahoma City Thunder 7-footer Chet Holmgren will miss the 2022-2023 season with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot. Holmgren, the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, suffered the injury in a Pro-Am game in Seattle on Saturday.
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 25, 2022
Holmgren came into the 2022 NBA Draft with some concerns that his lengthy frame could result in injuries down the road, but it appears that this is already making a huge impact on his career.
Many around the NBA world are extremely disappointed to hear this news, and are hoping that Holmgren makes a full recovery to return to the player that he has shown to be.
the irony of this happening to OKC’s new star player in Seattle of all places… https://t.co/InMqxrLJTw
— Rob Perez (@WorldWideWob) August 25, 2022
Welp. Hate this for Chet. https://t.co/9l11KgX7KX
— Brad Carson (@BradCarson) August 25, 2022
Chet Holmgren missing the entire season is awful news.
Feel terrible for Chet, his teammates and OKC fans.
Landing the #2 pick and Holmgren had brought a renewed excitement to OKC so this stings.
But the future is still very bright for Chet and the Thunder. https://t.co/idhZPvMgRV
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) August 25, 2022
The first notable injury of his life, and it happens before he even can report to training camp. What a colossal bummer. https://t.co/s3pFkXNxSr
— Matt Norlander (@MattNorlander) August 25, 2022
Terrible news.
Chet is an awesome talent and competitor who had no injury history and now incurs one by doing what he does by not backing down from a contest and meeting LeBron at the rim in a pro-am game. https://t.co/A4ZZtrzkvG
— Travis Branham (@TravisBranham_) August 25, 2022
This is obviously an enormous bummer and incredibly disappointing. https://t.co/vvjxozoxfi
— Sam Vecenie (@Sam_Vecenie) August 25, 2022
The game that Holmgren suffered the injury was called off in the second quarter due to the court being slippery from humidity in Seattle, which certainly could have played a factor.
This also has many questioning how the NBA will handle players playing in these Pro-Am events in the foreseeable future.
Will be interesting to see what waivers, if any, players signed before playing in Jamal Crawford’s game, where injury was sustained.
Crawford admitted game was halted because slippery floor made it unsafe and he needed to “protect the players.” https://t.co/Xhe9pDezFp
— Darren Rovell (@darrenrovell) August 25, 2022
RIP to rookies playing in Pro-Am games. It was fun while it lasted. https://t.co/WxwtCOF4bw
— Kristian Winfield (@Krisplashed) August 25, 2022
And that’ll do it for NBA guys showing up at Pro-Ams for the rest of eternity. https://t.co/bl9051ucSQ
— Josh Newman (@Joshua_Newman) August 25, 2022
We will never know whether Holmgren would have gotten injured if he was playing in safer conditions, but it certainly seems like the NBA will take a deep look into this sort of activity moving forward.
Regardless of the circumstances, this is a debilitating injury diagnosis for Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder organization, who were looking like they would be one of the most entertaining teams to watch next season filled with young talent on their roster.
We have seen the likes of Blake Griffin, Joel Embiid, and Ben Simmons all miss their rookie seasons and go on to have very successful NBA careers, and that will need to be the focus for Holmgren moving forward as he starts his recovery process.
