Chet Holmgren is tired of talking about what he sees as a fake rivalry with Victor Wembanyama, but he gets the excitement around it.
Wembanyama is 7-foot-3, while Holmgren stands at 7-foot-1. Wembanyama won last year’s Rookie of the Year award with the San Antonio Spurs, and Holmgren was the runner-up for the Oklahoma City Thunder. Both players have impressive ball-handling and shooting skills for their height.
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“The NBA is a business,” Holmgren said. “And the league has been built around players … It’s really — it’s about getting people to come and watch the games. And that’s one of the ways they do it — by advertising the players. So, I just see it as a form of advertising.”
In their recent matchup on Wednesday, Holmgren led the Thunder to a 105-93 victory, scoring 19 points on 7-for-10 shooting.
Wembanyama struggled, finishing with just six points on 1-for-5 shooting, and he didn’t score at all in the second half.
Before the game, Spurs coach Gregg Popovich mentioned that Wembanyama has improved since last year, when he was also the runner-up for Defensive Player of the Year. He noted that the 20-year-old gained more confidence this summer while helping France earn a silver medal at the Olympics.
After the game, Popovich did not take questions. He gave a brief statement praising the Thunder and criticizing his team’s performance.
Last season, Wembanyama became better each time the Spurs faced the Thunder, and San Antonio’s performance also got better.
Oklahoma City won the first two games last season, but in the third matchup, Wembanyama scored 28 points, grabbed 13 rebounds, made seven assists, and blocked five shots, leading to a 132-118 win for San Antonio. Holmgren contributed with 23 points, seven rebounds, and five assists in that same game.
Wembanyama missed the fourth game, which the Thunder won easily, but he averaged 20 points, 13 rebounds, and 3.8 blocks in the three games he played, building excitement for the game at the Paycom Center on Wednesday.
When Wembanyama was introduced with the starters, he was loudly booed, while former Thunder player Chris Paul received cheers.
The crowd got excited when Wembanyama won the tip, especially when the two players matched up directly. In the first quarter, there was a buzz when Holmgren handled the ball against Wembanyama but missed a pull-up jumper. Holmgren did manage to make two three-pointers early while being guarded by other players.
As the game went on, the excitement faded as the matchup became one-sided. Holmgren scored 15 points in the first half, while Wembanyama had only six points on 1-for-5 shooting and six rebounds.
After Oklahoma City took control, Wembanyama sat out the last 7:04 of the game — an unexpected finish for someone who had been averaging 20 points and 12 rebounds in his previous games.
When asked about the matchup after the game, Holmgren shifted the focus.
“I enjoy every single day being able to wake up, go play basketball, take care of my family doing it,” he said. “It’s what I’ve always wanted to do. That’s what I always want to do as long as I’m able to do it.
And, you know, that doesn’t change game to game. But no matter what, it’s always going to be Thunder versus our opponent. I’m here trying to win basketball games. And that’s what it’s going to be every single night.”
