At this point, everyone's heard that NBA 2K gave OKC Thunder star Chet Holmgren a pedestrian 45 overall in their strength category. Now, it seems like the big man is hungry to put this "weak" narrative surrounding him to bed.
In a recently surfaced video, Thunder teammate Jared McCain took a playful shot at Holmgren by joking that Oklahoma City's team chemistry level is "definitely better than Chet's strength on 2K."
Though Holmgren tried his best to shrug the jab off his shoulders, quickly saying "alright bro," his tone certainly seemed a bit deflated.
He immediately followed by challenging McCain to an arm wrestle, which, in a way, could add credence to the belief that Chet may be more eager to quiet this kind of talk than many may believe.
With training camp only a few weeks away, the big man won't have to wait much longer to test this possible newfound motivation out on the hardwood.
Thunder star has been active in the weight room this summer
Even before this 2K dig, it seemed Holmgren was actively looking to shed this narrative that has followed him throughout his three active seasons in the association.
Often throughout the summer, the big has regularly been featured in images and videos showing him hard at work in the weight room and honing his craft on the hardwood.
Needless to say, these posts have been exciting to see from the fan's perspective, as they show that, even after a career-best campaign, Holmgren's still looking for ways to improve himself.
Through 69 games played in 2025-26, Chet managed to drop highly impressive two-way averages of 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks on 55.7 percent shooting from the floor and 36.2 percent shooting from deep while earning All-Star, All-Defensive, and All-NBA honors and finishing second in the running for Defensive Player of the Year.
Unfortunately, this stellar level of play didn't manage to flow on into their ill-fated conference finals bout against the objectively stronger Victor Wembanyama, as he finished the series averaging a mere 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks while visibly being overpowered and outmuscled by the Spurs star along the way.
This showing by Holmgren should have been enough to encourage him to get back into the lab and work on himself from both a play and physicality standpoint. Clearly, he's been actively trying to work on both this offseason.
Now, perhaps this 2K slight may have given him even more motivation.
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