When it was first announced that both Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Williams would miss extended action due to injury, many assumed that Chet Holmgren would step up and serve as the number one offensive weapon for the OKC Thunder.
Considering he’s amid a career-best campaign in which he’s averaging 17.2 points on 55.2 percent shooting from the floor and just earned his first All-Star nod, such a belief seemed rather logical.
However, over the last eight straight games with Oklahoma City’s 1A and 1B options predominantly shelved, the 7-footer has failed to take over the reins to coach Mark Daigneault’s scheme, and, according to Locked on Thunder’s Rylan Stiles, it’s likely that he never will here in 2025-26.
Chet Holmgren ‘not capable’ of being top scoring weapon for Thunder
During a recent edition of The Athletic NBA Daily, the Thunder beat writer highlighted how fans have been going into every game without SGA and J-Dub thinking “this is going to be the time that Chet shoots 13, 14, 15 shots,” though, sadly, such outings have come very few and far between.
“He’s just not capable of that right now. He’s not capable of creating his own offense off the dribble, he’s not capable of creating space for himself and creating a shot for himself, and he’s never gonna be this season,” Stiles said.
Since February 7, Holmgren has hoisted up north of 10 attempts from the field just twice and has not once led the Thunder in scoring.
Over his last three games played, the big man has made a total of 11 shots from the field, including his seven points on a 3-for-8 shooting effort against the Toronto Raptors Tuesday night.
Instead of Chet paving the way, it’s been guys like Isaiah Joe and the currently breaking out Cason Wallace who have picked up the slack in the scoring department, with the big serving more as a decoy and focusing on defense instead.
The problem, as Stiles pointed out, is that Holmgren seems to have an unrefined handle and has shown discomfort when trying to take advantage with his shot selection against smaller defenders.
Needless to say, at this point in his career, his comfort zone on the offensive side of the ball is when serving as a third option, where defenders are drawn to a Gilgeous-Alexander or, for large portions of this season, Ajay Mitchell out on the perimeter, and he can be set up for a clean look.
Though Holmgren has certainly shown that he can dominate as a tertiary scorer who can jam it home at the rim and space things out beyond the three-point line, he’s still a ways away from becoming a reliable self-initiator.