The defending NBA Champion OKC Thunder already have two established All-Star talents in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams leading the charge. Assuming he can stay healthy, it's widely believed that they'll eventually add one more to their collection in the likes of Chet Holmgren.
At least, that's what Gilgeous-Alexander stressed during Monday's NBA Media Day.
When asked by reporters if he believes there are "levels" Holmgren can still reach in his already electrifying two-way game, the reigning MVP quickly smirked at the question while stating that he "isn't even a fraction of the player that he's going to be."
Thunder star says Chet Holmgren will only 'continue to grow'
As is widely known among both Thunder faithful and, frankly, basketball fans worldwide, the one thing that has held up Holmgren's ascension into stardom up to this point has been his unfortunate injury woes.
Outside of the fact that he suited up for all 82 games in 2023-24, he spent the entirety of his rookie season sidelined with a foot fracture and was held to just 39 games played last year with a right iliac wing fracture, an ailment he never fully seemed to recover from even when returning to the hardwood in early February.
To be more specific, since being selected second overall in the 2022 NBA Draft, the Gonzaga product has played in 114 out of a potential total of 246 regular season games, equating to an availability rate of just 46.3 percent.
Despite his myriad absences throughout his career, however, when on the floor and fully healthy, the big man has only proven himself to be one of the best frontcourt talents in the game today.
As he would go on to mention in his praise-filled synopsis of Holmgren, the superstar guard would note that the 23-year-old "can do whatever he wants" on the hardwood.
"Chet can shoot; Chet can put it down on the floor; Chet can post-up a small; Chet can drive by a big," Gilgeous-Alexander said.
On top of being a 7-footer who can score at all three levels (hence his career averages of 16.1 points with shooting splits of 51.9/ 37.2/ 78.0), easily his biggest claim to fame as a professional baller through this point is his elite defensive acumen.
For his career, Holmgren boasts a 107 defensive rating, a swat percentage of 7.5 percent (to put this into perspective, Rudy Gobert's is 5.7 while Anthony Davis' is 5.6), and holds opponents to a mere 44.2 percent shooting from the field.
As Gilgeous-Alexander put it, "the world is his oyster" when it comes to the idea of Holmgren's potential, and, ultimately, he believes the big man is "just going to continue to grow" as a player over the coming years.
Should this wind up proving to be the case, and Thunder have truly only seen the floor of Chet's abilities, it goes without saying that he'll unequivocally have been worthy of every penny spent on his newly received $239.9 million payday, a contract that, even before Media Day, was already believed to have the makings of ultimately becoming an absolute steal.