Chet Holmgren did it all in his NBA Summer League debut with the Thunder — and he knows it.
The 7-foot Gonzaga product was oozing with confidence after his 23-point performance in a 98-77 victory over the Jazz in the Salt Lake City Summer League on Tuesday at Vivint Arena.
After Holmgren — the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft — set a new summer league record with six blocks, he was surprised that the bar was set at “only six.”
“That’s the record?” the rookie center asked in a post-game interview. “Oh, well I’m coming to break it again.”
Holmgren is no stranger to seeing that stat at a collegiate level. As a freshman at Gonzaga last year, he recorded six blocks on five occasions, and a single-game career-high of seven blocks twice. He finished the year averaging 3.7 blocks per game.
Holmgren also had four assists and shot 7-of-9 from the field in his summer league debut, while sinking four of his six three-pointers. The 19-year-old was a force on both ends of the floor — throwing down monster dunks, shaking defenders, and hitting shots from behind the arc, including pull-up jumpers.
“Shout out to my teammates for setting me up, talking to me, just putting me in position to be successful,” said Holmgren, who stood beside his summer league teammate, Josh Giddey, with his arm around the Thunder guard.
Holmgren apparently wouldn’t participate in a postgame interview with ESPN unless Giddey was by his side.
“Shout out to this guy right here,” he said, pointing to Giddey. “Double-double with assists. Great night for him, and that helped me out a lot.”
The sophomore guard — who was selected sixth overall by OKC in the 2021 NBA Draft — added 14 points and 11 assists.
Holmgren is already exuding star energy following a single summer league game after the 7-footer faced criticism about his slender build leading up to this year’s draft.
After his summer league debut, Holmgren tweeted a crying-laughing emoji while fans praised his dominant performance on Twitter.
