Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Chet Holmgren tried to stop Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James on the break early in the CrawsOver game Saturday night, and while he was successful in keeping the four-time NBA MVP from getting an easy bucket, it appeared to have come to an expense of his ankle.
Via Brandon Rahbar: “Great news: Chet Holmgren stopped LeBron on a 1v1 fast break at the rim. Bad news: Looks like Chet rolled his ankle on the play and came out of the game. Worst news: OKC fans watched 50 minutes of warm ups for possibly 1 minute of Chet action.”
Here's the video of the play itself:
Chet’s ankle gone after defending a Bron layup 1 minute into the game… pic.twitter.com/8Lk5St12rD
— Steven Adams Stats (@funakistats) August 21, 2022
One thing about Chet Holmgren in this play is that he was obviously able to bother LeBron James in transition enough to force a wild, low-percentage shot AT THE RIM. It needs not be mentioned that James is one of the best fast-break finishers because of his otherworldly combination of size, mobility, and athleticism. He may be nearing 40, but LeBron is still a freight train on the break, one that Holmgren obviously did not hesitate to try to challenge. While he injured his ankle, Holmgren also gave his believers another reason to be confident in his ability to realize his full potential in the NBA.
The Thunder have a special one in Holmgren, a new breed of unicorn out of Mark Few's Gonzaga basketball program who should be back to wowing people once his ankle is back to 100%.
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