The All-Defensive phenom anchored the NBA's top unit and secured All-NBA honors before a vanishing act against San Antonio’s length exposed critical flaws in his postseason arsenal.
Chet Holmgren averaged 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 2.5 stocks per game during the regular season while shooting 55.7% from the field and 36.2% from distance. He anchored the best defense in the NBA and subsequently earned All-Defensive First Team honors and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. Holmgren also made his first career All-NBA team and led the league in plus/minus per 100 possessions among qualified players.
It was an excellent regular season from the former second overall pick, and he continued his stellar play once the playoffs started. During the Suns and Lakers series, Holmgren averaged a combined 18.6 points and 9.1 rebounds per game on a 60 FG% and 38.7 3PT%. He especially dominated the Lakers.
However, the Gonzaga product collapsed against San Antonio to the tune of 10.7 points per game on a 51% shooting from the field. Victor Wembanyama’s length snuffed out his turnaround jumper and most of his cuts. Meanwhile, the Spurs’ physical wings bumped Holmgren off his spots and routinely stripped the basketball. Outside of a few triples and cuts here and there, he was basically a non-factor as a scorer throughout the Western Conference Finals. It wouldn’t matter usually, but injuries to Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell crippled the Thunder’s offense and therefore made Holmgren stepping up a necessity. He unfortunately could not punish size mismatches to alleviate some of the burden from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander’s shoulders.
Overall, Holmgren receives an “A+” grade up until the Spurs series, but his brutal performance drops him to an “A-” for the entire season. Holmgren’s shortcomings were too noticeable and important to stop seven games from dropping his grade two notches.
This season was the final year of Holmgren’s rookie contract, so his salary cap hit jumps from $13,731,368 to $41,250,000 next season according to Spotrac. He’s signed through the 2031 season.
One area of improvement is his jump shot. It’s too slow and hesitant, which allows defenders to rotate back in time and contest or block his shot. Speeding up his release time to where he was at as a rookie would be a boon. Even if he shoots a percent or two worse because of this change in release time, it makes him more of a threat for the defense to worry about. Plus, hopefully another year removed from his hip fracture makes him as mobile and fluid as he was during his rookie season.
