Chet Holmgren laid an egg as the Oklahoma City Thunder lost 111-103 to the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals at Paycom Center on Saturday. Holmgren had looked far from his best in this series, and unfortunately for the Thunder, he saved his worst for last.
Holmgren finished with just four points (1-2 FG), four rebounds, two steals, and two blocks in 34 minutes in this do-or-die contest. The Thunder needed the 24-year-old to step up and help out Shai Gilgeous-Alexander in Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell’s absence, but he disappeared instead.
Holmgren was easily the most disappointing performer in this series, and he’s going to start eating up a chunk of the Thunder’s cap space soon. He agreed to a five-year, $239.3 million rookie max extension in July 2025, which kicks in this summer. Here are the estimated numbers at which Holmgren will be on the Thunder’s books for the next five seasons, according to Spotrac.
2026-27: $41.3 million
2027-28: $44.6 million
2028-29: $47.9 million
2029-30: $51.2 million
2030-31: $54.5 million
Now, giving Holmgren, the second pick of the 2022 NBA Draft, this deal last year was somewhat of a no-brainer. He had just helped the Thunder win their first-ever NBA championship in 2025.
Holmgren then justified that investment with a strong 2025-26 regular season. He averaged 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 0.6 steals, and 1.9 blocks per game for the Thunder and was named an All-Star for the first time in his career.
Holmgren also finished runner-up for DPOY behind Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama, and made the All-Defensive First Team and the All-NBA Third Team. He would play fairly well in the first two rounds against the Phoenix Suns and the Los Angeles Lakers, too, but everything went wrong afterward.
Game 1 against the Spurs proved to be somewhat of a sign of things to come. Holmgren had just eight points and eight rebounds that night as the Thunder lost 122-115 in double overtime. He’d play a bit better in some of the games that followed, but nowhere near enough.
Holmgren finished this series with averages of 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, 0.7 steals, and 1.1 blocks per game. That’s certainly not good enough production from someone who is going to make over $40 million in each of the next five seasons.
What was perhaps worse than the performances themselves was how reluctant Holmgren was to match fire with fire. This matchup was clearly personal for Wembanyama, and he played with a level of intensity and aggressiveness the Thunder big man never even came close to matching.
Holmgren was asked postgame if he was almost going out of his way not to make this series about him and Wembanyama.
“I mean, at the end of the day, it’s always about us trying to win the basketball game,” Holmgren said, via Chaz NBA. “Us as a collective, the Thunder team trying to win the basketball game, and that’s what it’s always going to be.”
Holmgren is not going to get drawn into this. Wembanyama is not going to stop either, though. These two are likely to have many more playoff battles in the future, and Holmgren has to change his approach in some way to help the Spurs emerge victorious. He’s never going to be as good as Wembanyama, but he can do a lot better than he did in this series. If Holmgren doesn’t, he’ll get shipped out of town sometime down the road.
