Draymond Green is the best defender of his generation. The Golden State Warriors' future Hall-of-Famer isn't quite as quick as he was a few years ago and certainly doesn't jump as high but remains a singularly impactful player on that side of the ball, a shoo-in for All-Defense honors and even Defensive Player of the Year consideration in 2023-24 just like he was last season.
You'd think the Oklahoma City Thunder would want to avoid testing Green with the game on the line, attacking Stephen Curry, Chris Paul or Klay Thompson instead of a top-five defender of all-time. Wrong. As Friday's instant-classic between the Warriors and Thunder hung in the balance, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander watching in street clothes while nursing a sprained left knee, coach Mark Daigneault drew up a simple sideline out-of-bounds play that put Green in Oklahoma City's crosshairs.
Ball handlers typically don't target Green one-on-one from the perimeter, let alone guys standing over 7-feet tall and playing just their sixth official NBA game. But as he made abundantly clear from the opening tip of a thrilling in-season tournament opener, Chet Holmgren definitely isn't most players.
Green was whistled for a block on the Thunder's penultimate full possession of Friday's game, a call he vehemently disagreed with that was upheld following a Warriors challenge. Holmgren calmly cashed two free throws shortly thereafter, giving Oklahoma City a lead it ultimately lost by the slimmest of margins. Don't blame Holmgren—or anyone else, really—for his shorthanded team's last-second 141-139 loss to Golden State, though.
The first-year big man was the most impactful player on the floor not named Curry in a wild contest filled with standout individual performances, prompting Green to admit what anyone who's watched Holmgren in the season's early going knew before Friday night. It's not just a matter of time until he's a full-fledged superstar. Holmgren is a two-way force for the Thunder right now.
“Chet's a problem,” a fawning Green said from the postgame podium. “He can play. He can dribble the ball. He can shoot the ball, has great length, great shot-blocker. He's only gonna get better.”
The Warriors had no real answer for Chet Holmgren
Chet Holmgren finished with a career-high 24 points, eight rebounds, five assists, one steal and one block in 32 minutes on Friday night. He went 7-of-9 from the field, made both of his 3-point attempts and went a perfect 8-of-8 at the line, good for a 95.8(!) true shooting percentage.
Even those gaudy numbers fail to convey just how big a problem Holmgren was for Golden State, which entered the in-season tournament opener holding teams to a league-leading 47.3 effective field-goal percentage. Lu Dort won't hit his first nine shots and first six threes every night, and both Josh Giddey and Jalen Williams enjoyed stretches of individual brilliance that hint at All-Star futures even in an NBA vacuum.
But it was Holmgren who drove the Thunder's almost truly unstoppable offense most against the Warriors. His unreal combination of length, body control, ball skills and feel left Steve Kerr and his coaching searching for defensive answers they never quite found.
Oklahoma City activated Holmgren as a primary initiator from the jump with Gilgeous-Alexander sidelined. After he caught on the left wing going middle and swished an effortless fadeaway over the outstretched arms of Kevon Looney on the Thunder's first touch of the game, Holmgren showed even more perimeter prowess on his team's next two trips.
How many 7-foot-1 centers in the league can make these plays look so easy, whether or not on consecutive possessions?
Looney has lost half a step or more laterally the last couple years, no longer the airtight switch defender he was in his athletic prime. But he's still a top-tier foil for opposing bigs, seldom outright victimized in isolation by his interior peers.
Holmgren obviously lacks the base to be a reliable post hub at this early stage of his career. He may never spend much time with his back to the basket. Why would Oklahoma City want him to when Holmgren is capable of roasting Looney off the dribble while bringing the ball up like a point guard?
The Warriors switched throughout the game when Green and Looney were both involved in ball screens featuring Holmgren. But they played basic drop coverage in the first half on Holmgren pick-and-rolls otherwise, a strategy that left the Dubs in constant rotation defensively when he wasn't abusing them himself.
Not many bigs have ever made Looney look this helpless.
The Warriors were absolutely gashed by Oklahoma City before intermission, the home team's pace, quick decision-making and hot shooting running them absolutely ragged in the halfcourt and open floor. Kerr tried a different approach after halftime, opting to switch Holmgren screens to avoid putting Golden State in rotation. It didn't go well.
This might as well be LeBron James waving Curry and Chris Paul into ball-screen actions. The end result is no different with Holmgren in The King's place.
Chet Holmgren is a future Defensive Player of the Year candidate. He's blessed with natural timing as a shot-blocker, plus a quick second jump and instincts as a back-line help defender almost exclusively reserved for veterans. The 21-year-old was definitely a deterrent at the rim on Friday, forcing multiple Warriors misses they normally make. But his influence on that side of the ball was muted compared to what he did offensively, a consequence of dealing with Golden State's unique offense for the first time as a pro.
But elite-level defense has been built in to his ceiling for years. It's the scope of his offensive utility that sparked widespread questions about Holmgren coming into the league, ones he's already answering with stunning comfort.
“Obviously, offensively, he's ridiculously talented,” Curry said. “He's a tough cover for bigs. He's a tough cover for guards if you switch 'cause he can get from A to B pretty quick. He's got length. You've got to respect him from all three levels, and he's just getting started.”
Holmgren's only fourth-quarter points came on those pivotal free throws isolating Green, evidence of some limitations to his scoring chops when he's not splashing open jumpers, driving close-outs and exploiting size mismatches. Space is paramount to Holmgren's effectiveness as a scorer at this point of his career.
Still, his fingerprints were all over Oklahoma City's 137.5 offensive rating in the final stanza, the Warriors' switching consistently creating advantageous matchups for his teammates. Giddey and Williams are plenty dynamic right now and have even brighter futures but won't ever be Gilgeous-Alexander.
Just imagine the impossible bind defenses will be in for the next half decade or longer when Holmgren's shooting and playmaking chops relegate defenses to switching two-man actions between he and SGA.
Victor Wembanyama is the best prospect in the NBA. There's no arguing otherwise. But Chet Holmgren is cut from the same surreal cloth as the San Antonio Spurs' wunderkind and already boasts the high-level feel and mature patience needed to thrive in the team concept when he's not directly creating offense.
The Rookie of the Year race is officially on, basically, even if Wembanyama ends up winning it running away. If his performance against the Warriors is just a glimpse of what's to come down the line, First Team All-NBA battles and maybe even MVP discussions seem bound to eventually revolve around Holmgren and Wembanyama, too.
“I think the sky is the limit for Chet,” Green said. “We've watched him for years leading up to him coming to the NBA, always like, ‘Yo, this kid has a chance,' and now we saw it tonight. He's gonna be a problem for a long time in this league.”
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