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OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren missed 50 regular-season games due to a rare hip injury. His fractured pelvis was a significant setback, but his teammates eased his road to recovery, and so did winning. After making his return in February, the Thunder finished the regular season 18-4. Then, Oklahoma City went 12-4 in the postseason to clinch the NBA Finals, where it will face the Indiana Pacers.
For Holmgren, it’s a testament to the Thunder’s depth and trust in one another that’s pushed them to winning the Western Conference Finals for a chance to compete for an NBA championship, per FanDuel Sports’ Nick Gallo.
“The biggest thing is playing for each other. It’s the type of guys that we have here,” Holmgren said. “Everybody’s going to tell you that they’re a winner, and everybody is a winner until it’s inconvenient for them. I feel like we have a team with 17 winners that are going to put winning at the top.”
Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault is known to go nine players deep in a typical game. However, sometimes he goes ten, and those ninth and tenth guys vary, keeping Thunder players on their toes and ready to go in at any moment. Players such as Jaylin Williams and Kenrich Williams could receive a healthy-DNP one game and be the first off the bench in the next. The fluidity of Daigneault’s lineups can vary at the first signs of trouble against the Pacers.
This was most notable during Oklahoma City’s second-round series against the Denver Nuggets, which was the only series in which a team came close to pushing the Thunder to the brink of elimination before its 125-93 blowout victory in Game 7.
Chet Holmgren opens up about brutal hip injury with Thunder
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Entering the 2025 NBA Finals, expectations are higher than ever for the Thunder. Six months removed from a devastating injury, Holmgren reflected on the dark days that progressed from the outset of his recovery.
“You wake up. You do what you can, which isn’t a lot. You can eat right, and when I was in that headspace, I didn’t really feel like watching basketball,” Holmgren said. “So, I’d wake up, go on my phone, eat, and then I’d take a super long nap. And then, I’d wake up and do that again. Then, I’d go back to sleep. And I had to do that until I could walk. So, it was brutal. Brutal.”
Now, heading into the NBA Finals against the Pacers, Holmgren’s coming off his most impressive series of the postseason, where he averaged 18.0 points on 56.7% shooting, 6.0 rebounds, and 1.6 blocks in six games against the Timberwolves.
