Earlier this month, veteran sportswriter Zach Lowe made the rather bold claim that, in his eyes, OKC Thunder big man Chet Holmgren was merely "on the outside looking in" on being selected to an All-NBA team this season.
Though his efforts may have been enough to make him just the seventh player in franchise history to earn an All-Star nod here in 2025-26, Lowe believes that the 7-footer's offensive inconsistencies might just hold him back from being the seventh Thunder to receive this particular honor.
Lowe specifically made a point of highlighting that he had failed to register 20 or more points since late January, with a 12-point stinker out in Chicago directly following these remarks.
Fortunately, the long-time journalist did stress that, with roughly a month remaining in the regular season, Chet still has a chance to put these doubts about his offensive productivity to rest, and, since Lowe's criticisms were made public, the center has seemingly pulled a 180 on this particular end of the floor.
Chet Holmgren upping scoring punch amid final stretch for Thunder
Aside from the aforementioned sub-par performance in Oklahoma City's March 3 bout against the Bulls, Holmgren has been truly sensational on the more glamorous side of the ball.
Since March 4, Holmgren has seen a monstrous 28-point performance in a highly competitive 103-100 win over the Knicks out at MSG and tremendous averages of 20.8 points (second on Thunder behind only Shai Gilgeous-Alexander) on 58.9 percent shooting from the floor and 38.1 percent shooting from deep.
On top of this offensive surge, his defensive efforts have remained just as elite, as he's been holding his direct opponents to a ridiculously low 41.4 percent shooting from the floor and boasting an obscene 102.7 defensive rating throughout.
It should come as no surprise that he has led the Thunder (undefeated during this span) in plus-minus along the way at plus-11.0.
Behind his defensive excellence, as things currently stand, Holmgren finds himself within striking distance of taking home the illustrious Hakeem Olajuwon Trophy -- with front-runner Victor Wembanyama only allowed to miss two more games between now and season's end before disqualification, the big man's chances may be better than the odds suggest.
Now, with a recent uptick in production on the offensive end, his claim to an All-NBA bid seems to be growing stronger by the day.
With 13 games remaining on the docket, the hope is that this momentum will hold up and sway the voters in his favor.