There's no denying Chet Holmgren had a putrid Western Conference Finals showing for the OKC Thunder this past season.
After putting forth his first All-NBA campaign and personally dominating throughout the first two rounds of the playoffs, the big man posted a middling 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks on 27.3 percent shooting from deep while being absolutely manhandled and overall outplayed by Spurs star Victor Wembanyama.
As a result, many have regularly been found pointing fingers at Holmgren when it comes to their beliefs on what (or, in this case, who) was the main factor in Oklahoma City's ultimate postseason demise.
Former NBA All-Star-turned-podcaster Gilbert Arenas is the most recent pundit to lay blame on the big man, saying the reason for OKC's loss to San Antonio was because Chet "got ghosted out of the series."
And just like everyone else, he's completely misguided in this belief.
Injuries, not Chet Holmgren, are to blame for Thunder playoff demise
Yes, Chet had a horrible series. Yes, he only took two shots and scored an abysmal four points in their series-clinching loss while serving as Oklahoma City's number-two option and seeing his direct rival, Wembanyama, go off for 22 points and seven boards.
This can all be true and still not be remotely close to the primary reason for the club's ouster.
That, of course, was injuries.
Sadly, injuries have been a constant theme for the Thunder over these past two seasons.
In 2024-25, they were fortunately able to overcome these woes, as they wound up winning their first NBA Championship of the Sooner State era despite Holmgren's right iliac wing fracture and Jaylen Williams' right scapholunate ligament tear.
In 2025-26, however, they weren't as lucky.
Not only were they missing their All-NBA and All-Defensive forward in Williams for all but 57 minutes in the conference finals, but they were also forced to play without his direct offensive pecking order replacement, Ajay Mitchell, for their last four games.
For the record, with Mitchell in the starting lineup during the playoffs, Oklahoma City went an undefeated 7-0 while posting 18.4 points, 4.7 assists, 3.9 rebounds, and 1.0 steals per game and, as a whole, led the entire NBA in plus-minus at plus-13.7 this postseason.
And yet, even with these key absences from the lineup, the Thunder were still able to go up 3-2 in this bout with the Spurs and brought San Antonio all the way to a hard-fought Game 7.
Had they had either at full strength, let alone both, for the entire series, it's hard to believe they wouldn't have been able to muster up the eight points they needed to clinch their second-straight NBA Finals berth.
So while it may be easy to brand Holmgren as the key cause for their downfall, clearly, their lack of available foundational players had more of an impact than the lackluster play of the big.
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