The Oklahoma City Thunder are excited about Chet Holmgren and what he brings to the team. Selecting him second overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, Holmgren has been on the shelf for over a year after suffering a Lisfranc Fracture in a Seattle Pro-AM event in August of 2022.
The Thunder will incorporate Holmgren into a team that made a 16-win improvement a year ago. Despite their ascension, the 2022-23 OKC Thunder squad could have used everything Chet Holmgren provides on paper. Nonetheless, while the play-in bid was fun, the Oklahoma City Thunder have to start from scratch this season.
The OKC Thunder will be open-minded about plans for Chet Holmgren this season as he returns from injury.
After over a year off, the OKC Thunder will have to keep Chet Holmgren’s health at the front of their minds. The wire-y seven-footer has seen many people question his frame and how it would hold up in the NBA, though those debates are overblown.
There is no injury that can be caused strictly due to Chet Holmgren being skinny, though there are injuries that can stem from putting the wrong kind of weight on his frame. The injury game is always tricky to discuss because it is rarely doctors having said discussions. We are just playing the results.
If Chet Holmgren never has another injury for the rest of his career, he will be deemed an ironman with the questioners slinking into the bushes, and if he twists his ankle a few times, people will take victory laps on branding him as injury-prone.
Nonetheless, the question is posed: will the Oklahoma City Thunder load-manage Chet Holmgren? Will he play in back-to-backs or all three games in four nights? Could he need some off days? Sam Presti discussed the plan to manage Holmgren at his annual preseason media availability.
Sam Presti on Chet Holmgren’s plan on if they will limit his minutes or games “we have to see how he responds…he has hit all the marks so far…we will have to be very observant.” Says “we will see how that goes” and mentioned not many players play 82 games.
— Rylan Stiles (@Rylan_Stiles) September 27, 2023
Sam Presti kept all options on the table, with the main sentiment being a wait-and-see approach as to how the OKC Thunder will handle Chet Holmgren this season. As the General Manager highlights, seeing a player participate in all 82 games in a given season is rare, so that might be a lofty goal for Holmgren. Though, I would not sharpie him out of the lineup on back-to-backs.
We will have to wait and see the load-management plan for Chet Holmgren. The OKC Thunder will have 14 back-to-back sets in the 2023-24 NBA season.