Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama are likely to be linked to one another throughout their NBA careers. Drafted one year apart, the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs stars are unicorn talents who stand over 7'0" in height and influence the game with a unique combination of skill and size.
As the Spurs and Thunder prepare to meet in the 2026 Western Conference Finals, Holmgren will have a chance to make a statement that ensures he doesn't drift into Wembanyama's shadow.
Wembanyama turned in a remarkable 2025-26 regular season. He won the 2026 Defensive Player of the Year award and has now been announced as a finalist for MVP. It's thus all but guaranteed that he'll also receive All-NBA First team and All-Defensive First Team recognition.
Each of those accolades are earned and deserved, and likely signal an ascension for Wembanyama to the ranks of the unrivaled in terms of award recognition.
Holmgren, meanwhile, received his first career All-Star Game selection and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting—albeit while failing to receive a single first-place vote. He should thus earn an All-Defense nod, as well, and has a strong case for All-NBA status.
The difference between Holmgren constantly chasing Wembanyama for awards and having a genuine shot at winning such honors will, fair or foul, include optics. That begins in the Conference Finals.
Chet Holmgren's path to awards starts with escaping Wemby's shadow
For better or worse, reputations are made during the playoffs and tend to carry into the following regular season. If a player is seen showing out on the grandest stage, then more context tends to be applied to their statistics and a greater degree of recognition is provided for their feats.
For Holmgren, that makes a head-to-head encounter with Wembanyama in the Conference Finals the most important series of his career thus far.
If Holmgren goes toe-to-toe with Wembanyama in an evenly matched series, future Defensive Player of the Year discussions should be far more competitive. If he's thoroughly outplayed, however, the path to competing with Wembanyama may be delayed by an entire year as biases form and preexisting notions become even harder to break.
If Holmgren does the unthinkable and outplays Wembanyama, then new reputations will form and an already excellent 2025-26 season will become something of a launching pad.
Biases form when stars meet in the playoffs and a gap is "confirmed"
Holmgren turned in a career-best year in 2025-26 with averages of 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.9 offensive boards, 1.7 assists, 1.9 blocks, and 1.3 three-point field goals made per game. He did so while maintaining a high level of efficiency, shooting at a clip of .557/.362/.792.
Holmgren was also the anchor for an injury-plagued Thunder team that ranked No. 1 in the NBA in defensive rating by a comfortable margin of 2.4 points per 100 possessions.
In any other season, Holmgren likely would've won Defensive Player of the Year and earned praise as an All-NBA lock. In an NBA that includes a fellow unicorn that jumps off the screen even more than Oklahoma City's resident modern giant, however, he's received far less acclaim than anticipated.
To avoid a continuation of that unfortunate truth, Holmgren may need to have the series of a lifetime against Wembanyama—or at least hold his own.
Add us as a preferred source on Google