The Thunder will have to wait another year to see Chet Holmgren take the court in the NBA.
Holmgren, the second overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, will miss the entire 2022-23 NBA season due to a Lisfranc injury in his right foot, the Thunder announced.
The 20-year-old appeared to suffer the injury in a pro-am game on Sunday in Seattle, according to Shams Charania of The Athletic, while defending LeBron James.
“It looked like Chet actually got hurt when defending LeBron on a fast break. You could immediately see it in his face,” Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report tweeted.
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She continued: “The Chet injury was maybe one minute into the game? As players continue to do this I wonder what effect this will have for pro ams and runs in general. Can absolutely see a world where contracts explicitly discuss injuries that that happen outside of NBA regulated activities.”
“I was literally at this game lol and very close the slippery floor was not an issue at the time this injury happened. Players started discussing the floor near the 2nd quarter. If Chet was affected by the floor conditions in this instance it was not known. The game continued.”
The Gonzaga product was in contention for the first overall pick, but fell at the last moment, with Duke’s Paolo Banchero going at the top of the draft to Orlando.
The Thunder, who finished 24-58 last season, will likely be towards the bottom of the Western Conference again as they continue what’s expected to be a painful rebuild.
