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Kendrick Perkins ready to trade Thunder’s ‘soft, scared’ Chet Holmgren ASAP
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- Kendrick Perkins ready to trade Thunder’s ‘soft, scared’ Chet Holmgren ASAP
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The Oklahoma City Thunder were eliminated from the playoffs after suffering a 111-103 Game 7 loss to the San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. Victor Wembanyama was nearly an unstoppable force, as Chet Holmgren and his teammates struggled defending the 7-foot-4 center. However, Holmgren played so poorly against Wembanyama that Kendrick Perkins thinks it's time for OKC to trade him away.
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During Monday's episode of "First Take" on ESPN, the former NBA center turned analyst claims that if he were in charge of the Thunder front office, he'd be looking to trade Holmgren before the 2026 NBA Draft. Perkins believes the 24-year-old forward displayed a lack of heart and fight against the Spurs in the WCF.
"I would trade him before the draft," said Perkins about Holmgren. "He didn't swing a punch. That showed no heart whatsoever… What Chet Holmgren showed is, 'I'm soft, and I'm scared.' He was scared throughout the entire series."
Rather harsh words for a guy who has been a superstar for his team throughout most of his career in the NBA. But it's hard to ignore the fact that Chet Holmgren was nearly ineffective against the Spurs. He finished the series averaging 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, 1.0 assists, and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 51.0% from the field and hitting just 27.3% of his three-point attempts.
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Those numbers are a notable drop-off in comparison to his first eight games of the postseason. In the two series wins for the Thunder (sweeping the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers ), Holmgren looked more like his usual superstar self, averaging 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.3 assists, 1.4 steals, and 1.8 blocks per contest. He also owned a 60.0% field goal percentage and shot 38.7% from beyond the arc.
While Kendrick Perkins believes it's time for the Thunder to trade away Chet Holmgren, the likelihood of that coming to fruition seems extremely low, but it's not impossible. Although Holmgren struggled against Wembanyama and the Spurs, the 2025-26 All-Star is still considered one of the best big men in the NBA.
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