Chet Holmgren was instrumental in the Oklahoma City Thunder’s bid for a league title in the 2024-25 season. Despite missing a full year and then nearly half of the previous season, Holmgren proved to be pivotal in impacting OKC’s offense and defense, which led to the team to eventually push to sign him for more years to come.

This comes as a timely extension after the Thunder have also signed superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to a four-year, $285 million deal. The KIA MVP, WCF MVP, and Finals MVP have earned it well after a majestic season in which he also finished as the league’s scoring champion among many accolades, as well as being recently named the cover athlete of NBA 2K26.

Holmgren averaged 15.2 points, 8.7 rebounds, 2.1 assists and 2.2 blocks per game for the Thunder last season. Despite what can be seen as his worst season, it only gets better from there. Oklahoma City’s plan to run it back rests on having its big three core intact together, and now it is going to be one heck of a push to make them all stay for more years to come.

OKC has ticked two, now there’s only one left.

The Holmgren Deal

With SGA finally done with his extension and guaranteed to stay until the 2030-31 season, it definitely made sense that Oklahoma City would now move to its next stars at hand for a chance to keep them together. With the deal, Holmgren is now slated to make about $41 million per year starting the 2026-27 season, which is the start of the extension.

Next year, however, the Thunder big man will make $13.7 million – which is the final year of his rookie deal. This should be a landmark season and a chance to improve his numbers before entering the prime years of his career with OKC.

Holmgren has already proved his worth on the big stage when he averaged 15.2 points and 8.7 rebounds in 23 playoff games – never missing a single one when it mattered most. OKC capped off a massive run where they managed to beat Indiana in a seven-game clincher.

For what it is worth, Holmgren had his ups and downs, and yet he managed to come back strong for OKC when it mattered most, and that says a lot about his value for the team.

Facing Adversity with Grit

Holmgren was selected as the no. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA Draft behind Orlando Magic’s Paolo Banchero. Had it not been for his foot injury, he may have ended up winning Rookie of the Year. Instead, he redshirted the entire season while also paving the way for the breakout of fellow 2022 pick Jalen Williams.

“They went through a fair amount of adversity during the season,” Presti said last month in his end-of-season meeting with reporters. “In reality, a lot of that adversity forged us into the team that we were, playing different lineups and being without certain players and then getting those players back, and the selflessness and humility that the players coming back had to have in order to fit into a team that was really cooking without them. Chet is one example of that, but we had many others.”

The Thunder center then returned in the 2023-24 season and played all 82 games to showcase his ability to stay on the court when healthy. OKC reached the semis in that run but was eliminated by the Dallas Mavericks. Holmgren also had a great start in the 2024-25 season, going as far as being the top three in MVP talks before his hip injury.