Beyond Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, one player who has come under the spotlight from the Thunder in this season’s Playoffs is Chet Holmgren. From scoring 23 points in 18 minutes to put away Game 3 of the Grizzlies series in the first round, to being the special player that impressed Anthony Edwards and helped the Thunder beat the Timberwolves in Game 4 of the Western Conference Finals.
Holmgren bounced back after a rough Game 1 (where he had only six points) and scored 15 points in Game 2 of the NBA Finals. Following the Thunder’s 123-107 win, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander spoke to Scott Van Pelt of ESPN about how the team reassures their faith in Chet without even needing to say anything to him.
“The special thing about Chet is nobody said anything to him. Yeah, he’s such a competitor, and he gets lost in the competition, and I think he’s the best version of himself now. He’s going to go out there and make mistakes just like the rest of us. But his intentions, his intangibles, his skill set, and the things you just can’t teach that he does on a basketball court, well, they’ll take over. As long as he continues to have that right mindset, which he does 99.999% of the time. You don’t have to worry about Chet, he’s going to be that guy.”
Does Chet Holmgren Belong In OKC’s Big Three?
Following Game 4 of the Thunder’s series against the Timberwolves, Anthony Edwards claimed that it was Chet Holmgren who was the X factor for the Thunder’s win. He was thoroughly impressed with Holmgren, despite karma eventually catching up with Edwards.
Such performances propelled his name into the discussion alongside Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams to be the OKC’s next big three. However, Shaquille O’Neal, the NBA legend, feels that the NBA media is being hasty in awarding him that title. He even said that Holmgren is at best a role player but hasn’t yet done enough to be in the ‘Big Three’ status.
“We’re all responsible for this, we give away too many titles sometimes. They got a big two, that mo***rf***ker Jay Dub is serious, he can play. The other guy’s just a role player, stop it… But he’s a great role player. He’s a Horace Grant or Tony Kukoc, not taking away, but he’s not a big three, stop it, stop it”, said O’Neal in an appearance on the Pivot Podcast.
Holmgren missed a significant portion of this season due to injury. But in the Playoffs, he’s been pivotal to the OKC as he provides size inside the paint and is a potential threat to stretch the floor. He has averaged 15.8 points, 8.3 rebounds, and 1.9 blocks in 18 games in the 2025 playoffs.
Despite his pivotal inputs into the team’s success, I will have to agree with O’Neal here and say that Holmgren has not done enough to say that he’s among the top centers in the NBA at the moment and hence does not form a “Big Three” with the Thunder’s star duo, Williams and Gilgeous-Alexander.
