Chet Holmgren is off to a fantastic start in his first season with the Oklahoma City Thunder and in just a month he has already been able to do what some of the franchise’s greatest players never could.
San Antonio Spurs rookie Victor Wembanyama has gotten a massive amount of attention to start the new season since he is the most hyped prospect the league has seen since Lebron James and he’s been impressive over his first month as an NBA player. However, he is not going to win the 2023-24 Rookie of the Year award without a serious fight.
Related: Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren already made NBA history with wild stat after first 6 games
Chet Holmgren was the No. 2 overall selection in the 2022 NBA Draft, however, the Gonzaga standout did not play a minute in his first year in the league after suffering a season-ending foot injury in the preseason. However, he has quickly made up for the lost time in 2023. He is second on the Thunder in scoring and leads the team in rebounds and blocks.
Chet Holmgren is having a better start to his rookie season than Kevin Durant and Russell Westbrook
Earlier this month, he and Wembanyama set a new NBA record when they were the only players in NBA history to have both 10+ blocks and 10+ made threes through six career NBA games. However, Holmgren isn’t done making history just a little over a month into his first season.
- Chet Holmgren stats (2023): 18.1 PPG, 8.0 RPG, 2.5 APG, 2.3 SPG, 44% 3PT
Over the weekend, X account NBA History revealed that the 21-year-old is “the first rookie in OKC franchise history to record multiple 30+ point games in the first month of their career.” Holmgren scored 30 twice over a four-game period when he posted 36 against the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 18 and then 33 versus the 76ers on Nov. 25.
It is quite an impressive stat to achieve since he is not the Thunder’s top scoring option and the fact that future Hall-of-Famers and former league MVPs Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, and James Harden were all drafted in Oklahoma City and had memorable careers before they moved on to other franchises over the last decade.