OKC Thunder GM Gives Behind the Scenes Look at Chet Holmgren Injury

The Oklahoma City Thunder saw a lot of highs during the 2024-25 season. Many on the outside do not realize the adversity the Thunder had to battle throughout the 68-win campaign that saw OKC put a historic defense on the floor, the best point differential in NBA history, the best cross-conference record in league history and hoisted the team's first ever Larry O'Brien trophy.

Oklahoma City reached these historic heights while only being healthy 8.5% of the time with the injury bug biting countless rotational players.

The biggest injury was suffered on Nov. 10 when Chet Holmgren went soaring through the air in an attempt to block a shot against the Golden State Warriors before splattering on the ground and shattering his hip.

After the seven-footer was attended to on the court, it was teammates Jaylin Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein who helped carry the rising star to the back as each of them were in street clothes nursing their own injuries.

At his annual end of season interview, Thunder general manager Sam Presti detailed this night and gave a behind the scenes look at what transpired.

"Then this year when Chet got injured, [Jaylin Williams] and [Isaiah Hartenstein] are the ones that helped him off the floor. In all my years doing this, I've never, ever seen a player in that much pain. I mean, it was really tough. Hart and J-Will stayed with him the whole time in the back, and it was uncomfortable. It was uncomfortable because when someone is in that much pain, it's hard to be a bystander. You know what I mean?," Presti Detailed.

The Thunder's top executive is a basketball prodigy, being around the NBA for the majority of his life. He has seen plenty of injuries in his day and for this to be the most pain he has seen a player go through says a lot. Holmgren suffered a hip fracture, the likes of which we haven't really seen in the NBa.

"Those guys were both injured at the time. It was the greatest act of team support and teammate support I had ever seen. I don't know that it will ever be matched. They sat with him. They supported him." Presti reflected. "Chet, I don't even know if he could realize they were there because of what he was going through. But those two guys -- that's the kind of stuff that makes the team unique. To understand how difficult that must have been for those guys to see someone in that much pain, and they stayed there the whole time until he left for the hospital."

As the story goes on, it is easy to see the display of Thunder culture that the organization continuously touts.

"And Chet -- we had to stop halfway to the locker room. He couldn't make it to the locker room, it was that bad. Eventually we got him to the table." Presti said. "But those guys sat there, and they never left his side. I was just blown away by that. These are the things that go on inside teams that are unspoken, that when people are watching have these very, very strong opinions. They have 100 percent confidence with 10 percent of the information. 90 percent of the stuff is these types of things, and there's stuff like that happening all the time, and it can show up in different situations."

The Oklahoma City Thunder quickly extended the Arkansas big man to keep Williams in Bricktown for many years to come this offseason.

"I have to think that those small acts of support and selflessness were somewhere inside of the last two months," Presti concluded.

The Oklahoma City Thunder have been able to run it back with this championship core and expect a leap out of franchise center Chet Holmgren who hopes to remain healthy this season.