Lanky big men in the NBA often experience the same problem when it comes to injuries. They often struggle with their foot, center of gravity, and balance because of how far they are from the ground. A recent example of this is Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder who completely lost his rookie season after an injury against LeBron James at the 2022 Drew League. Those problems seem to be settled after his 2023 NBA Summer League stint.

Chet Holmgren is more than set to start his rookie campaign. This is a year after he got his name called in the NBA Draft. The young big man hopes to have a stable career where he does not endure the same hardships as Greg Oden and Yao Ming among other talented big men. He has undergone a year of recovery and changing up his routine such that he fitted right back in with the NBA.

Chet Holmgren's 2023 NBA Summer League

This seems to be successful for the young Thunder star as proven by his 2023 NBA Summer League performance He had two stints with Oklahoma during the summer. The first one was in Salt Lake City. Fans erupted as they have not gotten a peek at his performance before this. Holmgren played two games on 29.8 minutes per game. His shotmaking was not as efficient in Utah. Chet only knocked down 40.9% of the shots he took on the field but was still rewarded with 12.5 points per game. Rebounding was where he excelled due to 10 total rebounds.

A lot of his improvement was seen during his second go at the NBA Summer tournaments. His stint in Las Vegas was day and night compared to the one in Utah. The playing minutes were roughly the same but his scoring experienced a massive uptick. Chet jumped up to 20.5 points per game on average. His shooting stroke also came alive as he knocked down 56% of his field goals.

Scoring does not seem to be a problem for the 2022 NBA Draftee but one of the big reasons for his huge draft stock seems to be missing.

The Thunder's probable conundrum

Chet Holmgren was drafted at a high position because of his upside on the offensive side of the ball. Particularly, he was one of the best stretch big men in the nation during his college days. Gonzaga basketball allowed him to shoot from beyond the arc whenever he was open. They were rewarded with easy buckets and better floor-spacing as big men do not sag off him when he is in the perimeter.  All of these were because of his 39% three-point field goal averages per game. The same cannot be said for him during the summer league.

The NBA requires many of its star big men to develop a serviceable outside shot so that it opens up more team strategies. Oklahoma City could benefit from this with Chet Holmgren. However, he has not shot nearly at the same level during both of his stints in the summer. He only attempted three shots from beyond the arc in his Las Vegas run with the Thunder. Salt Lake was even worse as he attempted 2.5 shots per game from three but did not make any.

All of these do not account for the volume of shots he may take during the regular season. However, he needs to knock down more of them or he might get hounded on defense and leave Oklahoma City with improper spacing.