Chet Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder know what it takes to win a title, but to get another one, they'll probably have to go through Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs first. After coming up short in the conference finals, the 24-year-old can learn a valuable lesson from Karl-Anthony Towns in the 2026 NBA Finals on how that can happen.
San Antonio put Victor Wembanyama on KAT in Game 1 on Wednesday, and, unlike Holmgren, the Knicks center wasn't afraid to go at the seven-foot-four star. He was quick on his feet, attacking the basket, beating Wemby off the dribble. He didn't let getting blocked deter him, either. KAT was relentless.
Towns embraced the physicality that ramps up to a whole new level when you play someone like Wemby, rather than running from it, and that was on both ends of the floor. His aggressiveness in the paint and on the glass led to 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, 12 rebounds, 4 assists, and 1 block. He was the Knicks' best player for the majority of the night.
The Thunder don't need to make a splashy move like trading for Giannis Antetokounmpo to stop Wemby. What they need is for Holmgren to take a page out of KAT's book.
Thunder need Chet Holmgren to be more decisive and aggressive
All Wembanyama has to do is stand down low (he doesn't even need to put his arms up), and that's enough to deter most players from going within anywhere close to the rim. That happens when you're someone who stands well over seven feet tall with an eight-foot wingspan. He was the unanimous DPOY this year, and it won't be the last time he earns that honor.
Holmgren isn't as tall as Wemby, but he is seven-foot-one. He, too, can use his height to his advantage, as seven-foot-tall KAT did in Game 1. Of course, Towns' build gives him an advantage over Victor that Chet doesn't have, but the point still stands — you can't get past Wembanyama without going at him.
There were a few stretches in the WCF where Holmgren ramped his aggressiveness up to the level the Thunder needed it to be at, but they were short-lived. You could smell the fear on him through the television screen, as if he wasn't capable of leading OKC past San Antonio. The thing is, he is.
Towns gave Holmgren and OKC the blueprint of how to do that in New York's win. Wembanyama and San Antonio aren't going anywhere anytime soon, just like the Thunder aren't.
Oklahoma City wasn't at full strength in the WCF, and if Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell were healthy, maybe we'd be having a different conversation right now. That doesn't change the fact that the Thunder needed more from Holmgren, who shied away from the challenge, rather than embracing it.
Holmgren has the offseason to add more muscle and work on what went wrong and why, but as KAT is showing, you don't have to overcomplicate facing Wemby.
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