After winning the 2025 NBA Championship, the Oklahoma City Thunder Top Brass appears to be keen to bring the team together.
First, Shy Gilgauss Alexander has agreed to a major four-year contract extension with the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Following the SGA contract, Thunder managed to earn up to $250 million by keeping the 2022 NBA draft Chet Holmgren’s second-place overall pick on a five-year contract.
Holmglen was a key member of the Thunder’s 2025 NBA Championship run, but analyst Nick Wright believes the team has made a mistake.
When he’s healthy, Holmglen is undoubtedly one of the most incredible young players in the NBA.
But at just 23 years old, Holmgren has already suffered two major injuries in his career. With that in mind, Wright pointed out that OKC should have waited a year before signing a massive five-year contract.
“I haven’t seen him much in court, so I would have been waiting. Chet, we saw the fall twice for it and a few months we missed. It happened with limited stretches.”
He added: “What I’m pointing out is that players people have been so passionate about should be the number one pick and played half the time and I don’t think they’ve yet popped ‘Yes, this guy will be a future multi-team all-star’. ”
Additionally, Wright considers Orlando’s magic star Paolo Banchelo to be a more proven star than Holmglen at this point in his career.
“I don’t see harm in waiting. I don’t see harm in waiting a year. For me, Paolo is proven in more ways than Chet,” concluded Wright.
Ideally, Holmglen should have three years of experience in the league as the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft.
However, Holmgren missed out on his entire rookie season due to Lisfranc’s injury to his right leg. Additionally, Holmgren missed 50 games in the 2024-25 NBA season.
As a result, he has played 114 of 246 games in just 114 games in the past three seasons. Thunder ignored this red flag by giving him a huge maximum extension.
Speaking of the games he played, Holmgren averaged 16.6 points, 7.8 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game in the 2023-24 regular season + playoffs, according to data provided by Sofa Scole.
Meanwhile, he donated 15.1 points, 8.3 rebounds and 1.3 assists per game in the 2024-25 regular season + playoffs.
Holmgren’s defenses are roughly the same, but Thunder Star’s shooting efficiency is decreasing.