Chet Holmgren was the No. 2 overall pick the 2022 NBA Draft.
Oklahoma City Thunder star rookie Chet Holmgren will be out for the 2022-23 season after the team announced he suffered a Lisfranc injury to his right foot.
Thunder GM Sam Presti said in a statement: “Certainly, we are disappointed for Chet, especially given the excitement he had about getting on the floor with his teammates this season. We know Chet has a long career ahead of him within our organization and the Oklahoma City community. One of the things that most impressed us during the process of selecting Chet was his determination and focus. We expect that same tenacity will carry him through this period of time as we work together and support him during his rehabilitation.”
Thunder injury update. Statement from GM Sam Presti.
🔗 | https://t.co/Jiq9l6EY3W pic.twitter.com/SsGCFueT2q
— OKC THUNDER (@okcthunder) August 25, 2022
Holmgren joins a list of high draft picks who lost their rookie years to injuries, including Joel Embiid, Ben Simmons and Blake Griffin. https://t.co/EYNVgA1bYk
— Adrian Wojnarowski (@wojespn) August 25, 2022
Thunder say Chet Holmgren will miss the entire 2022-23 NBA season due to his right foot injury.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 25, 2022
Holmgren appeared to suffer the injury during summer pro-am play in The CrawsOver last weekend. He was guarding LeBron James in transition and came up limping after a play at the rim.
Here’s the play where Chet Holmgren got hurt tonight. He was guarding @KingJames one-on-one. It’s hard to tell how he got hurt. He might have just stepped weirdly. @ChetHolmgren @thecrawsover #thunder pic.twitter.com/AzUBYUgnyV
— Nathan Thompson (@NathanDThompson) August 21, 2022
The Thunder chose Holmgren, a former standout at Gonzaga, with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft. A versatile 7-footer who was a second-team Associated Press All-American in his only college season, Holmgren averaged 14.1 points and 9.9 rebounds per game and ranked fourth nationally with 3.7 blocks per game for the Zags.
He played in both the Utah and Las Vegas Summer Leagues and made a big impression in Salt Lake City, averaging 17.0 ppg, 9.5 rpg, 3.5 apg and 4.0 bpg while also shooting 50% overall and 41.7% on 3-pointers. He is one of several key pieces for the Thunder, who are led by guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (24.5 ppg in 2021-22) and Josh Giddey (the No. 6 overall pick in 2021 who made the All-Rookie second team).
The Thunder’s core includes Gilgeous-Alexander, Giddey, Lu Dort, Darius Bazley and Tre Mann. Dort is one of the league’s best defensive players when healthy. Bazley is an athletic wing player and Mann was an explosive scorer off the bench. Gilgeous-Alexander, the oldest player in that group, is just short of his 24th birthday.
The Thunder were hoping Holmgren could help them eventually can help them regain some of the glory from the Kevin Durant-Russell Westbrook era. The Thunder went to the Western Conference finals four times with that duo and the NBA Finals once. The Thunder have not won a playoff series since Durant left and have missed the playoffs the past two seasons. They went 24-58 last season.
Aside from picking Holmgren, the Thunder also took Santa Clara guard Jalen Williams at No. 12 and Arkansas’ Jaylin Williams with the 34th overall pick in the Draft. They also picked UCLA’s Peyton Watson at No. 30 overall, though he went to the Denver Nuggets. The Thunder acquired JaMychal Green and a 2027 protected first-round pick from the Nuggets for the rights to Watson and two future second-round picks. Green later was waived by OKC and signed with the defending-champion Golden State Warriors in the offseason.
Information from The Associated Press was used in this report.
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