Looking Back at Chet Holmgren's Historic College Campaign
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Although he missed the entirety of the 2022-23 season with the Oklahoma City Thunder due to a foot injury, Chet Holmgren still has an incredibly bright future. He's still projected to have a chance to become one of the best bigs in the entire NBA and will begin to work towards that next season.
Since he will technically be a first-year player in the 2023-24 season, he's already being tabbed as a potential NBA Rookie of the Year candidate in what will be a deep class. In fact, he currently holds the third-highest odds at DraftKings for that award.
It's easy to forget just how rare and versatile of a talent Holmgren is since he hasn't played in almost a year. As such, it's a good time to look back at his single season at Gonzaga and the incredible production he had as a freshman. Holmgren averaged 14.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 3.7 blocks per game while shooting 60.7% from the floor including 39% from deep as a 7-footer.
When searching through the Cerebro Sports database, there's only been 67 collegiate players as far back as they track that have produced at least 14 points and nine boards in a single season. Among the 7-footers that have reached this level of production include Andrew Bogut, Greg Oden, Deandre Ayton, Jakob Poeltl and more recently Zach Edey.
When you add in the 1.5 assists per contest, there's only 29 players in the database that meet this mark. Finally, when adding in at least 3.5 blocks per game as part of the criteria, Holmgren is the only player in the entire database at the college level.
On both ends of the floor, he makes a tremendous impact. An elite floor spacer and rim protector, he fits the modern NBA perfectly. This upside was clear in NBA Summer League as Holmgren dominated the competition and looked like a potentially generational talent.
It could take some time for him to get back into the swing of things early in the upcoming season after a year off, but don't forget just how unique of a prospect the 7-footer could be for the Thunder over the next decade or more.
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