The Oklahoma City Thunder have surprised everyone this season, sitting near the top of the Western Conference thanks to their budding young talent on the roster. Perhaps their most impressive young player, rookie big-man Chet Holmgren, made NBA history on Sunday with a stat line that truly shows how special of a player he is becoming.
Holmgren of course missed his first NBA season last year due to a devastating Lisfranc injury before the season that ended his original rookie year before it even started.
There were questions about how a player of his stature standing at 7’1”’ would bounce back from this kind of injury. But he has answered these questions by having one of the most special rookie seasons of all time.
Holmgren has been a true unicorn on the court for the Thunder this year, helping the team in ways that very few big men around the NBA can do as a perimeter threat offensively while also being an elite rim protector.
He finished Sunday’s matchup against the Houston Rockets with 29 points, eight rebounds, and seven assists while also adding in a steal and three blocked shots. This was enough to help the Thunder come away with their fifth consecutive win, tying the Minnesota Timberwolves for the best record in the Western Conference in the process.
Stuck together to the end ⚡️ pic.twitter.com/7S7HeSqSSq
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) February 26, 2024
With this performance, Holmgren -, a pretty startling statistic considering how much season there is left to go.
Chet Holmgren is the FIRST player ever to have these numbers in a season:
150+ blocks
150+ assists
100+ threesIt’s only February. 🤯 https://t.co/nCSLoy6jox
— Brandon Rahbar (@BrandonRahbar) February 26, 2024
San Antonio Spurs rookie sensation Victor Wembanyama has received a ton of praise this year for his unbelievable play, and rightfully so. But Holmgren has shown that he is every bit as talented as a player, which should make for an extremely tight Rookie of the Year debate between the two.
More importantly, his impressive play has helped make the Thunder a real threat to make a deep postseason run in the Western Conference, which may even give him the edge over Wembanyama considering the Spurs’ struggles as a team this year.
About Reice Shipley
Reice Shipley is a staff writer for Comeback Media that graduated from Ithaca College with a degree in Sports Media. He previously worked at Barrett Sports Media and is a fan of all things Syracuse sports.