Chet Holmgren was the most intriguing prospect among the top picks from the 2022 NBA Draft, as there was a lot of debate on just how good he could actually be at the professional level. The talent was clearly there, but many wondered how his skinny frame would hold up in the league against other big men.
We won’t get the answer to that question for a while, unfortunately, as it was announced that Holmgren will miss the entire 2022-23 season with a Lisfranc injury to his right foot. He suffered the injury while playing in the CrawsOver Pro-Am League in what was a big blow for all parties here. While it is a major setback, his teammate Aleksej Pokusevski is confident that Chet will have a strong recovery and that he’ll show just why he is such a highly regarded prospect.
via EuroHoops:
“I’m really sorry, it’s really bad news for us,” Pokusevski said to Mozzart Sport. “But, he’s [Holmgren] a young guy, a real worker and I think he’ll successfully recover from everything and show why he was the No. 2 pick in the Draft.”
Optimism is definitely required at times like these and hopefully, he won’t be hampered too much by this going forward. With big men, however, foot problems tend to always be a theme during their careers, so he has definitely not gotten off to a great start here. Holmgren still has the full backing of GM Sam Presti, who stated that he would have selected Chet even if he was told prior to the draft that he’d have to wait a year to see him play.
“If you asked me before the lottery… you could pick between one or you could pick eight, or, the other option is you could have Chet Holmgren, but you have to wait a year to get him — I would not let you finish the sentence.”
“…this is Chet’s first experience in Oklahoma City. And I would just tell our fans, let him know that you care. Let him know that you have his back, because this is the type of guy that’s going to have your back, and he’s going to have your back for a long time.”
“Something positive will come from this as long as we take it in and understand that. We have to have humility and we have to have gratitude as we deal with the setback.”
It shows the faith that the front office has in him and his potential to be a great player one day. Perhaps Chet can use this year-long layoff to work on his upper body strength and we have seen bigs over the last decade or so miss their entire rookie season and still have success.
Joel Embiid and Blake Griffin immediately come to mind as two guys who missed time earlier on in their careers but still went on to perform at a very high level. The Thunder will be hoping that Holmgren follows in their footsteps.
