Chet Holmgren does 5-on-0 work at OKC Thunder shoot around

The Oklahoma City Thunder held shoot around on Friday morning ahead of the start of their baseball-style series with the Utah Jazz, which will take place on Friday evening inside the Paycom Center. At the end of the shoot-around, the 2nd overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, Chet Holmgren, came out and did a lot of work.

Chet Holmgren is out for the season with a foot injury he sustained at a pro-am event in Seattle in August. Everything you see in these videos from shoot around does not change that fact, just updates on the progress of Holmgren. As for that progress, the team continues to say he is on track, not ahead or behind, but on track. If anyone held out that Holmgren would return for one of the final 20 games of the season, those dreams should be let go of.

2nd overall pick, Chet Holmgren, looks impressive in his post-shoot-around workout, cashing jumpers and running plays in 5-on-0 action.

After the Oklahoma City Thunder completed shoot around, two players remained on the court. Aleksej Pokusevski and Chet Holmgren. Aleksej Pokusevski continues to work his way back from a leg injury which has held him out since December, while Chet Holmgren is working back from a Lisfranc injury.

Normally, these practice or shoot-around videos of Chet Holmgren only consist of a few jump shots, but today Holmgren did a few more things. Including a nice dunk, which of the four media members there, none of us got video of. Trust me, for as much as you deserve to yell at us, we are yelling at ourselves. Spoiler alert: NBA players move fast and are unpredictable.

This is the first time any of us can remember Chet Holmgren working 5-on-0 before, running with assistant coaches through some plays on air. Holmgren looks good, including some fancy finishes.

It was not just running through plays on air; he had his jumper working from the elbow and the corner three.

The anticipation continues to mount for the Oklahoma City Thunder fanbase waiting to see Sam Presit’s highest draft pick in this rebuild compete on an NBA floor. That wait will extend until October, but these videos can hold fans over until then.

As a note, for the dreamers or skeptics out there, of why Holmgren can not play in this final month: There is a big difference between playing on air at semi-full speed and playing full contact 5-on-5 at NBA speed against NBA players. This is still a fun sight and a nice sign for Chet Holmgren’s progression.