Chet Holmgren has undoubtedly won his spot with the Oklahoma City Thunder. He accepted the five-year maximum rookie contract extension, fully guaranteed. This agreement has the potential to balloon to $250 million, though only $239 million is guaranteed. Holmgren’s new multimillion-dollar pact just goes to show how much faith the franchise has in his ability to develop into a franchise cornerstone.
Despite his lanky appearance Holmgren has an imposing frame at 7’1 and pairs elite instincts with overall winning attributes. He’s quickly endeared himself to the Tbunder’s tightly knit venture squad. Together, they hope to compete for an NBA championship in the years ahead. The team has demonstrated strong performances, particularly during their recent title run, where Holmgren played in all 23 games.
These external challenges were compounded for the young center, who experienced significant trauma during his professional career. He suffered a pelvis injury in early November, the second major injury of his young NBA career. He completed a very impressive comeback just prior to the All-Star break in February. Holmgren came into this season with laser focus. He showed off his full offensive arsenal by averaging 15 points, eight rebounds, and 2.2 blocks per game while shooting 49% from the field and 37.9% from three.
Holmgren’s impact on defense has been one of the first things to get talked about around the league. He contested a whopping 93% of his opponent’s shot attempts as the closest defender. This strong showing puts him second in this stat since the beginning of last season. He has consistently led the NBA in field goal percentage allowed on layups and dunks. This milestone only goes for marked players that opposed more than 100 attempts. What he’s done during the Finals though is quite a contrast. He contested more than 40 shots, held opponents to a 33% field goal percentage, and blocked a ridiculous 11 shots, five in Game 7 alone.
As his sophisticated defensive metrics would indicate, Holmgren is a uniquely impactful defensive player. On top of that, he’s one of just three players in NBA history to hit 150 threes and log 250 blocks in the first two years of their career, joining Victor Wembanyama and Kristaps Porzingis. His contributions have been essential to the Thunder’s historically good defense. He had a crazy plus-169 plus-minus, tops of all players in the 2025 playoffs.
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