OKC Thunder players react to Chet Holmgren’s injury

The Oklahoma City Thunder held their annual Media Day on Monday, as each player found their way to the podium ahead of the 2022-23 NBA season. The OKC Thunder will tip-off training camp on Tuesday, and start their preseason slate on October 3rd before their regular season opener on October 19th. Chet Holmgren will have to battle adversity and watch that from the sidelines.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have a ton of optimism, like every team, ahead of the 2022-23 season. While no one knows just how good this team can be win total-wise, the number of young players on this roster is intriguing. However, the team has already lost their most exciting young prospect, Chet Holmgren for the entire season.

Second overall pick Chet Holmgren suffered a season-ending foot injury during a pro-am game in Seattle last month. His fellow teammates and head coach were asked about his injury on Media Day.

The Oklahoma City Thunder react to Chet Holmgren’s season-ending injury. Mark Daigneault on pro-ams and Josh Giddey praises Holmgren’s mindset

The day started with head coach Mark Daigneault walking into the interview room to tip things off. From there, we talked to every player on the roster and they all had to field questions about Chet Holmgren’s injury.

Mark Daigneault talked about the fact Holmgren was hurt during a pro-am event “They have to play. They have to play for a lot of reasons. We encourage them to do that, especially after Summer League.” the bench boss went on to discuss how the Crawsover event Holmgren sustained this injury at was an NBA sanctioned event.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander praised Holmgren’s mindset, as someone who has suffered injuries before he told Chet Holmgren “control what you can control, it’s part of the game…his mindset I’m pretty sure he is going to come back better.”

Josh Giddey praised the type of competitor Chet Holmgren is, saying that Holmgren will “attack the rehab process.” 

Giddey said Holmgren is “attacking the rehab, and we have an elite medical team…he is always the first one in the gym, last one to leave. I just said to him you have a long career ahead of you. Take your time, and get healthy.” Giddey and Gilgeous-Alexander both have experience with injuries so far in their young careers, so they can be resources for Holmgren on how to handle this adversity.

Every other player on the roster echoed these sentiments about Holmgren having a long career, and the correct mindset to rehab and come back better than ever.