Chet Holmgren Handles Spurs Adversity Perfectly

It was the best of times, it was the worst of times. It was the season of All-NBA selections, All-Star nods, and All-Defensive honors. It was the season of profound disappointment, missed opportunity, adversity, and the lowest point on the court (via play) of Holmgren's basketball life.

Safe to say, looking back on the 2025-26 season is the definition of mixed emotions. To Holmgren's credit, despite his complete dud in a seven-game Western Conference bout with the San Antonio Spurs to the tune of just 10 points, seven rebounds, an assist and 1.8 stocks per game and just 51% shooting from the floor by a seven-footer and a woeful 27% from beyond the arc on the rare times that Holmgren hoisted a shot at the rim.

Game 7 was the loudest that the gripes of Holmgren's game got when he went out without much resistance posting a stat line not worthy of anger but almost sympathy as a player with so much talent shied away producing just four points, as many rebounds on just two shots. The bad news is, it was a different verse, same as the first, of a season-long nightmare against San Antonio.

That isn't Holmgren's best. It can't be for the Thunder to fulfill its dream of winning a second championship. While the Gonzaga product has already address

To his credit, the All-NBA big man faced the music less than 24 hours after that disappointing Game 7 and handled each passing question with grace and honesty ahead of the offseason. Those questions didn't stop on Monday at Thunder media day.

Despite this being the dawn of a new season, the former No. 2 overall pick was not allowed to turn the page just yet. Once again, he was asked about the Spurs matchup, the Western Conference Finals and his motivation to improve as a player.

"I feel like I've always had personal motivations. Over time, I've tried to distance them from outcomes, good or bad, because outcomes change, as we know. Outcomes change a lot, night to night, year to year. If you base your motivation based on outcomes, your motivation is going to go up and down. I feel like I have very consistent motivations, and I try to stick to those," Holmgren explained of his offseason motivation.

That comment by the Thunder starter is far from sidestepping a question. In fact, it is as honest as any player can be. It is reality in life, no matter if you are a pro athlete or a fan. If the only way to get motivated is by failures and disappointing outcomes, then how do you maintain that quest for greatness, or bettering yourself, in the good times to avoid a backslide?

It also isn't lip service. When you dig into Holmgren's answer, you quickly remember his response to winning a championship a summer ago. He admitted that he watched that film, fresh off fracturing his hip earlier that season, and saw a slow version of himself. A version of himself that wasn't moving and performing the way he wanted to, despite his historic showing in Game 7 to help Oklahoma City capture its first-ever championship. That mindset from a year ago, proves his point that he is making this year.

"Yeah, I think I learned a lot from the year that we won it, and I honestly think that my approach was very similar. Obviously the emotions of it were different, but I don't think my process changed at all.
After we won it, obviously it's good emotions. You're at the highest of highs, but at some point -- which was still relatively pretty quick. You have to flush those emotions and look at the reality of what the tape is and then figure out how you can kind of improve on those things. I'd say that was no different after last season. Obviously different emotions, but you still have to get to a baseline where you can look at things objectively and then figure out how to try to improve from there," Holmgren further detailed in a followup question.

While there is no doubt that Holmgren must find ways to be more impactful in the looming Spurs matchups –– not just the season opener or two regular season tilts to follow but the nearly sure-fire playoff series between the two sides –– but he also had to use the summer to well round his entire game.

"I'd say it's a combination of things. One, I'd say there is no perfect balance, but you have to try and find the best balance for yourself of, you know, kind of what is currently showing up within your situation based on how your team plays, how other teams play you and your team. And then there's also a mix of things that you inspire to do, that you aspire to be able to do, that can't show up until you work at them to be able to do them at the level you need to do them at for them to show up. You can't spend all your time working on one or the other. I think I found a good balance of that this summer, as I have in the past. I'm always excited to chase improvement," Holmgren said of his offseason work.

Despite having already addressed the series, Holmgren stood tall and once again faced these tough questions with excellent responses full of perspective, honesty and grace. Now, it is about parlaying this acknowledgment into action on the court. Judging by his work ethic and the proof being in the pudding of his development to this point should give some encouragement.

Add us as a preferred source on Google