Chet Holmgren’s return from injury has made the NBA-leading Thunder even better.
The 7-foot-1 forward, who was last season’s runner-up for rookie of the year, returned to Oklahoma City’s starting lineup on Friday night after missing nearly three months with a pelvic fracture. Holmgren finished the Thunder’s 121-109 win over the Toronto Raptors with four points, five rebounds, four blocks, and two steals.
“It’s amazing,” he said. “I missed it for a long time, and I worked really hard to be able to get back out there. So I’m happy and excited and look forward to continue to try and help us win and keep improving.”
He played 22 minutes, and during that time, the Thunder outscored the Raptors by 22 points.
Holmgren was selected second overall in the 2022 draft and missed his rookie season due to a foot injury. In the 2023-24 season, he played all 82 games, averaging 16.5 points and 7.9 rebounds to help the Thunder secure the No. 1 seed in the Western Conference.
Before his injury this season, Holmgren was averaging 16.4 points and 8.7 rebounds in 10 games. He wasn’t expected to reach those numbers in his first game back on Friday.
“It ties a bow on his return to play. His return to performance isn’t over,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “It takes a while for a guy that’s been out that long, especially a lower-body injury, to get himself back to game shape, endurance, rhythm, all those things. And so we’ll continue to work with him on probably a week-to-week basis. But it was a great start.”
Holmgren was able to ease back into the game since the Thunder, led by MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, were sitting comfortably at the top of the Western Conference. With the win over Toronto, they improved to 41-9.
There was a lot of excitement for Holmgren’s return. He was cheered during pregame warmups, and the crowd got even louder when he was introduced as the first Thunder player.
Chet Holmgren in the 1st halfHolmgren scored his first basket just over two minutes into the game, a floater from 4 feet away. On the next basket, he drove to the paint, spun, and passed the ball to center Isaiah Hartenstein, who scored with a floater.
His second field goal came in the first quarter when he made a fadeaway jumper just inside the free-throw line after a quick spin move.
In the fourth quarter, Holmgren blocked a dunk attempt by Scottie Barnes, which was his most exciting play of the night.
This was the first time Holmgren and Hartenstein played together, as Hartenstein, a free-agent pickup this past summer, missed part of the season with a broken left hand.
Holmgren took just five shots, knowing that scoring wasn’t the only way to help the team.
“It’s not going to be the Chet Holmgren show,” he said. “This is the Thunder. Whether I had an injury or not, that’s what it is. I’m just trying to go out there and help the team win in any way I can. I’m not expecting to become like a sideshow apart from what our goal is going out there every single night, and that’s to win basketball games.”
Daigneault said that adding such a talented player to a successful team can be challenging, but he praised Holmgren for being a good teammate and making it easier.
“We’re not asking for it to be perfect,” Daigneault said. “It’s one of those things that, if it requires one step backwards to take two steps forward, we’re willing to do that because we think it’s got a really high ceiling.”
