Thunder, a day after playoff elimination in West finals, start process of looking ahead

OKLAHOMA CITY (AP) — Chet Holmgren attempted two shots in Game 7 of the Western Conference finals. He absorbed plenty of shots from critics afterward.

And the Oklahoma City Thunder spent Day 1 of the offseason making clear that they support him.

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If the ballyhooed matchup in the West finals was Holmgren vs. San Antonio’s Victor Wembanyama, then it was a one-sided one. Wembanyama had the superior numbers in the series and the Spurs wound up prevailing, while Holmgren was barely a factor offensively with the Thunder season on the line Saturday night.

“Every minute Chet Holmgren’s been on the team, we’ve been the 1 seed in the Western Conference,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said Sunday, when the team gathered for end-of-season meetings. “And it wasn’t the case before Chet was healthy.”

Holmgren had likely his best season, with career-highs of 17.1 points and 8.9 rebounds per game. He made All-NBA for the first time, All-Defensive for the first time as well, got his first All-Star nod, plus was second in the Defensive Player of the Year balloting.

He finished second in that voting behind Wembanyama — just like he did for Rookie of the Year in 2024, and just like the Thunder did in these West finals.

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“We need Chet. We need Chet Holmgren,” Thunder guard and back-to-back reigning NBA Most Valuable Player Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “Before Chet was here, we weren’t who we are today. We didn’t have the success we had today. When he’s the best version of himself, we’re the best version of ourselves and it’s no secret.”

It’s easy to envision the West finals matchup — Thunder vs. Spurs — becoming a rivalry for years to come. Both teams have young, obviously highly talented corps, and now they have the ingredient that all rivalries truly need, that being a playoff matchup, to help provide fuel.

“I definitely think that they’re different in terms of I don’t think there’s another team that has their play style, their personnel,” Holmgren said. “They’re unique in that way. You can’t just kind of play like a base normal, ‘this is what we kind of do on…

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Publish date : 2026-05-31 21:17:00

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