Shai Gilgeous-Alexander drops 4-word take on Chet Holmgren's performance vs Nuggets

Heading into Thursday's opener between the OKC Thunder and Denver Nuggets, a substantial amount of buzz centered around the face-off between superstars Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Nikola Jokic. After all, the two were the last remaining finalists for the 2023-24 NBA MVP award, with the latter ultimately coming away triumphant in a somewhat controversial fashion.

However, coming out of the exhilarating 48-minute exhibition, the player who should be receiving the lion's share of attention is rising star big Chet Holmgren, who started off his sophomore campaign with an absolute bang of a performance.

After finishing second in the running for Rookie of the Year, the 22-year-old was pegged by many as a likely breakout candidate heading into the 2024-25 campaign, with some going as far as to predict that he'll find himself exploding into stardom.

Thursday's game one seemed like an indication that he's likely on his way toward making this prophecy a reality, as Holmgren was an absolute force to be reckoned with on both ends of the floor.

Thunder star praises Chet Holmgren for performance in season opener

In nearly 36 minutes played on the night, Chet Holmgren went on to drop a mesmerizing stat-line of 25 points, 14 boards (tying his career high), 5 assists, 2 steals, and a whopping 4 blocks while shooting 61.1 percent from the floor.

While such a performance from the youngster may have turned a few heads and opened some eyes wide, his superstar running mate in SGA didn't seem all that shocked by the second-year pro's performance, as he simply classified it during a post-game, on-court interview as an occasion where "he came to play."

"Obviously, it's the first game of the season. Everybody comes to play, but he raised his level of intensity. Obviously, he was a big part of why we won tonight. Nothing surprised us. That's who Chet is. That's who he's been ever since he stepped on the floor for us and he was Chet Holmgren tonight," Gilgeous-Alexander said.

Though already known as a tremendous two-way talent, Holmgren proved in Oklahoma City's matchup against their direct conference rivals in Denver that he's capable of taking on the lofty tasks of squaring off against big in name and stature talents such as All-World center, Nikola Jokic.

Impressively enough, even after going on record highlighting the difficulties of slowing the Nuggets star down, despite being at a disadvantage in both the weight and strength department, the Thunder big managed to hold Jokic to just 16 points on the night and have him shoot a mere 33.3 percent from distance while serving as his primary defender.

Outside of the fact that he missed on all five of his long-range attempts, one could realistically say that Holmgren had a sensational outing for the Thunder. However, as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander seemed to suggest, the big man's high-end impact during the club's 102-87 triumph over Denver was simply just another day for the budding star.