Oklahoma City Thunder

Kevin Garnett praises Victor Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren after exciting head-to-head battle

Published by
Jesse Cinquini

On Monday, the San Antonio Spurs played the Oklahoma City Thunder in a preseason game. The Thunder went on to beat the Spurs by a final score of 122-121, and Chet Holmgren and Victor Wembanyama were the top performers for each side.

Wembanyama finished with 20 points, five rebounds, two steals and one block for the Spurs, while Holmgren chipped in 21 points, nine rebounds and one block for the Thunder.

Former Boston Celtics star big man Kevin Garnett recently took to X (formerly known as Twitter) and said that Holmgren and Wembanyama looked like “created” players in Monday’s preseason game.

The Thunder chose Holmgren with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft. Prior to declaring for the 2022 NBA Draft, the 7-foot-1 big man played one season of college basketball at Gonzaga University. Holmgren was arguably the best player in the nation during his lone season as a member of the Bulldogs, as he averaged 14.1 points, 9.9 rebounds, 1.9 assists and an otherworldly 3.7 blocks per game in 32 appearances with the team during the 2021-22 season.

Unfortunately, Holmgren missed the entirety of the 2022-23 regular season with the Thunder due to a right foot injury he suffered while playing in a pro-am basketball game.

Even without the big man, the Thunder still enjoyed a promising season, seeing as how they won 40 games a season ago.

Meanwhile, Wembanyama was selected by the Spurs with the No. 1 overall pick in the 2023 NBA Draft. He averaged 18.0 points, 10.0 rebounds and 4.0 blocks per game while shooting 40.7 percent from the field and 30.0 percent from behind the 3-point arc across two games with the Spurs during Las Vegas Summer League.

His best game of Summer League came against the Portland Trail Blazers, as he scored 27 points, grabbed 12 rebounds, blocked three shots and converted nine of his 14 field-goal attempts against Portland.

Holmgren and Wembanyama both have incredibly bright futures ahead of them with the Thunder and Spurs organizations, respectively. They could very well be in the conversation as two of the best big men in the league in a few years from now.

Jesse Cinquini

Jesse is an aspiring sports journalist that has previously worked as a staff writer at SB Nation’s CelticsBlog and The Knicks Wall.

Published by
Jesse Cinquini

Recent Posts

‘Wtf’: Trae Young reacts to Rashad McCants saying he could score 81 points like Kobe Bryant

Back in January of 2006, former Los Angeles Lakers star Kobe Bryant put on one…

4 hours ago

Rashad McCants says he could’ve won ROTY but had a coach who was ‘shaking in the motherf——g huddle’

Former NBA guard Rashad McCants was drafted by the Minnesota Timberwolves with the last lottery…

4 hours ago

Chandler Parsons says Jaylen Brown would be best player on over half of NBA teams, including some playoff teams

The Boston Celtics were without maybe their top player for Wednesday's Game 2 versus the…

5 hours ago

‘Spo gonna Spo’: Cavs player gives Erik Spoelstra his flowers after Heat’s near-upset in Game 2

The odds were stacked against the Miami Heat to pick up a win in Game…

5 hours ago

Report: Will Campbell landing with Patriots may depend on whether team gets ‘fair deal’ to trade down

As a consolation prize for a woeful 2024 season that was marred by losing, the…

5 hours ago

Report: ‘Most of the league’ has been contacted about Jalen Ramsey, including Rams, Lions and Eagles

Miami Dolphins cornerback Jalen Ramsey is one of the more notable players in the league…

5 hours ago