3 Things to Watch in Chet Holmgren's OKC Thunder Return

Friday's Oklahoma City Thunder-Toronto Raptors tilt quickly became a must-watch affair. As the OKC Thunder announced Chet Holmgren will return to action after dealing with a hip fracture, all eyes are on this bout to see how the rising star will perform in his first game back.

He joins a club that sits at 40-9, the best mark in the NBA and by every metric is a true title contender despite the adversity that it has faced so far this year with injuries riddling the campaign to date.

3 Things to watch for

1) How does Chet Holmgren look next to Isaiah Hartenstein?

Finally, after months (and months!) of speculation, the Oklahoma City Thunder get to unveil a double-big lineup for the first time in the regular season that features its rising star Holmgren and biggest free agent signing in club history (in more ways than one) Isaiah Hartenstein.

Before Holmgren splattered on the floor against the Golden State Warriors on Nov. 10, Isaiah Hartenstein was sidelined with a hand injury. By the time the former Knick returned to the fold, Holmgren was in street clothes.

Now, the Oklahoma City Thunder get to see what the pairing looks like in live game action and how they play off one another.

For those who wish the Thunder had a big-for-position power forward who could shoot next to an anchoring big, this game is for you. What if Holmgren proves to be a masterful roaming big man off ball as he has in the past defensively with the ability to knock down 3-pointers at a solid clip - another skillset he has proven to have. Then all a sudden, you have the closing five for critical postseason games with no real flaws 1-5.

Whenever Mark Daigneault rolls out this pairing it will be placed under the microscope but it will likely take time to get on the same page. Tonight's game should serve as a baseline and give flashes of what this duo could potentially be.

2) How are the Bigs staggered?

Despite being the No. 2 thing to watch, for this scribe's money, it is the most important aspect of all of this. There will be times in which Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is the only lead guard on the floor and the same goes for Jalen Williams. Who is the five-man to accompany those possessions tonight and how or will that change over time?

The betting odds would say Hartenstein sticks around with Gilgeous-Alexander to close the opening frame and third quarter, while Holmgren assists Williams with the secondary unit.

Holmgren-Wiliams proved to be a dynamic duo a year ago with a great two-man game that has been curated over time. The floor-spacing the Gonzaga product provides with his pick-and-pop ability clears up the mid-range and rim for the Thunder All-Star to be more comfortable as the go-to scorer.

While Hartenstein's brick-wall screens provide Gilgeous-Alexander the crease he needs to break down a defense and put the pumpkin in the patch. Not to mention how great the superstar is alongside Isaiah Joe and the growing chemistry the sharpshooter has coming off Hartenstein screens and DHOs.

3) Who starts and how many minutes?

Perhaps we have these answered before tip-off but the lingering questions for this return is who does Mark Daigneault place in the starting lineup and are there any restrictions on Holmgren's minute-load?

While the five best players that Daigneault could put out there for the jump ball are Gilgeous-Alexander-Lu Dort-Jalen Williams-Holmgren-Hartenstein, would Oklahoma City prefer to start Holmgren at the four and toss in Aaron Wiggins at the three to make things as comfortable as possible for the Gonzaga product's first few minutes on the hardwood prior to debuting a new wrinkle?

It is true that the Thunder historically have not had players come back while needing a minutes restriction and perhaps that same philosophy remains true in this case, but it is an entirely different situation than Oklahoma City has dealt with in the past.

The second-best player on the roster, at age 22, is coming off a hip fracture. It wouldn't be jaw-dropping to see the Thunder have a planned cap on Holmgren's minutes for a while despite its history.

This question will also linger into Saturday as the Thunder are on the second night of a back-to-back in Memphis, will Holmgren take the floor against the Western Conference's No. 2 seed?

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