Looking back at Chet Holmgren 's resume before he got into the league as the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft by the Oklahoma City Thunder , everything seemed effortless, practically a straight line to stardom.
He captured back-to-back state championships at Minnehaha Academy, earning National High School Player of the Year honors, before leading Gonzaga to a No. 1 overall seed in the regular season at college, even if an NCAA title ultimately eluded him.
But behind those team accolades and gaudy individual statistics, scouts were searching for something deeper than raw numbers — something tangible. They found it in the Minnesota native's undeniable, ironclad confidence.
The basketball world got its first real taste of that swagger back in 2019, when Holmgren captured national headlines for crossing over Stephen Curry at his own "SC30 Select Camp". Steph, already a three-time NBA champion at the time, got a firsthand glimpse of exactly what was coming for the rest of the league.
By the time he approached draft night, with his exact landing spot still up in the air, the 7-foot-1 big man doubled down, proving his self-belief was entirely through the roof.
"Myself in two months," Holmgren told "Bleacher Report" when asked to name the best player in the league.
Even after Paolo Banchero crashed the party and snatched the No. 1 overall pick for the Orlando Magic , Holmgren didn't let it shake him. He was simply too confident that, in the years to come, he would establish himself as one of the premier players in the entire Association.
Then, in a split second, the world stopped for a young man whose path had been paved in gold from the moment he first picked up a basketball. During a summer Pro-Am game, a routine transition play led to an unfortunate collision with LeBron James .
The fallout? A devastating foot injury that cost him his entire rookie season, leaving fans and analysts wondering how a player with such a unique, fragile frame would ever bounce back.
"I don't think it's like an injury that happened because I overdid it. It was a freak injury you can't really control; sometimes you just take one wrong step, but I definitely overdid it," Holmgren later recalled.
"I even told JC [Jamal Crawford], 'I'm beat from the workouts this week, I don't think I'm going to be able to pla,' and then you just know ignorance. I texted him like 15 minutes later, 'Save me a jersey, I am pulling up to hoop,'" he added.
His burning desire to prove that summer that he belonged in the conversation with the league's absolute best ultimately delayed his arrival, but it couldn't stop it. By his second active season following the injury, Holmgren went all the way, establishing himself as a vital cog in a championship-winning rotation.
Fast forward to today. The Thunder are actively trying to cement a dynasty, yet the entire basketball world is pointing fingers squarely at Holmgren following a lackluster Western Conference finals performance — topped off by a catastrophic Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs , where he finished with a mere four points on 1-of-2 shooting from the floor.
Now, the overarching question dominates the airwaves: where did that irrational confidence go? Why did he choke so badly?
It's not as if the young big man simply shrank under the bright lights. Just last year, on his way to hoisting the Larry O'Brien trophy, he played in two separate Game 7s and performed remarkably well.
Nor is he a player to get starstruck by the sheer presence of someone like Victor Wembanyama ; this is a guy who, before playing a single minute of official NBA basketball, fearlessly went right at all-time greats like LeBron and Steph. So what changed?
The weight of the moment was amplified because OKC was completely reliant on Holmgren to step up and embrace the role of a clear No. 2 scoring option after Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell were sidelined with injuries. Instead, the pressure had the exact opposite effect, leaving the entire NBA community dissecting his lack of aggression.
Who would have thought we'd ever be talking about Chet in this light after the fearless path that brought him to the league?
Even possible trades are already being discussed after his horrible showing in the WCFs.
The best way Chet can quiet the noise is to show the confidence he once had and ball out next season.
This story was originally published by Basketball Network on Jun 1, 2026, where it first appeared in the Latest News section. Add Basketball Network as a Preferred Source by clicking here.
