Chet Holmgren gives honest response on heels of first playoff elimination

The Oklahoma City Thunder had a great season but in the end, the Dallas Mavericks proved too strong for the youngest team in this year’s playoffs. 

Chet Holmgren is one of the youngest (22 years old) on this team of youngsters although comes off as being more mature than his birth certificate shows.

Any big loss is an emotional time for an athlete but that’s taken to a whole other level in the postseason. Holmgren stepped to the podium following OKC’s one-point, Game 6 loss in Dallas and expressed what he was feeling in the calmest way imaginable. 

"Nobody wins 12 straight championships, so the chances that I'm gonna feel this at some point again is definitely there, but I'm going to do everything in my power to avoid this feeling again."

After a rookie campaign where Holmgren finished second in Rookie of the Year voting, the future is bright for the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 draft. The former Gonzaga Bulldog missed all of the 2022-23 season after suffering a foot injury in August 2022. 

There was plenty of doubt as to how he’d respond coming off that foot injury this season, but Holmgren went above and beyond to prove the doubters wrong. He averaged 16.5 PPG, 7.9 RPG and 2.4 APG, along with shooting 53% from the field. Holmgren even shot 37% from three-point range and 79.3% from the free-throw line. 

OKC’s even-keel star seems destined to become one of the best big men in the league within the next couple of years. His maturity in the face of adversity coupled with his unique skills on the court could certainly carry him to superstardom.