Rookie Watch: Is Chet Holmgren An All-Star?
In the last 20 years, just one rookie has been named to the NBA All-Star. This was Blake Griffin in 2011, who earned the honors in his second season as a member of the LA Clippers; he sat out his first year with an injury. For the Oklahoma City Thunder, Chet Holmgren finds himself in an eerily similar situation. He too sat out his first season with an injury after hurting his foot in a Pro-Am game last summer. Like Griffin alongside Chris Paul, Holmgren flanks a superstar guard in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the second best player on a playoff team.
Holmgren is averaging 17.5 points, 7.8 rebounds, and 2.5 assists per game this season. He’s done so on very efficient shooting splits, converting on 62.1% of his 2-point attempts, 37.2% of his 3-point attempts, and 84.1% of his free throws for an incredible True Shooting mark of 64.2%.
However, his defensive impact has been even more impressive. The 7-foot-1 big man has been one of the league’s very best rim protectors despite being a first-year player, averaging 2.7 rejections per game. The former Gonzaga bulldog adds to his All-Defense caliber footprint with great mobility and smarts.
With his two-way impact, Holmgren has been the second best player on the second seed in the Western Conference to this point. That’s a pretty convincing All-Star case in itself. To provide context, the five other top-two players on top-two seeds are Anthony Edwards, Rudy Gobert, Giannis Antetokounmpo, Damian Lillard, Jayson Tatum, and any one of Kristaps Porzingis, Derrick White, or Jaylen Brown. Every other top-two player on a top-two seed will likely be an All-Star, so why not Holmgren as well?
However, there are only 12 initial All-Star spots per conference.
In the West, it’s safe to assume Nikola Jokic, Kevin Durant, Anthony Davis, and LeBron James will hold the three frontcourt starting spots as well as one reserve spot. This leaves Holmgren to compete with players such as Kawhi Leonard, Rudy Gobert, Paul George, Brandon Ingram, Domantas Sabonis, Zion Williamson, Alperen Sengun, and more for the last two frontcourt reserve and wild card spots.
With so many deserving candidates, it’ll probably be tough for Holmgren to get the All-Star nod. Regardless, with continued success and perhaps some setbacks from competitors, it’s very possible that Holmgren ends up the league’s first rookie All-Star in over a decade.
Want to join the discussion? Like Draft Digest on Facebook and follow us on Twitter to stay up to date on all the latest NBA Draft news. You can also meet the team behind the coverage.