Chet Holmgren’s NBA career could be put on hold before it even starts.
There is “fear” the No.2 pick in last year’s draft could have torn ligaments in his foot, reports Shams Charania of The Athletic.
There’s fear Oklahoma City Thunder No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren has suffered ligament damage in his foot and he is undergoing further opinions, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 24, 2022
Exams show Chet Holmgren has potential torn ligaments in his foot, sources said. A timetable is being determined based on further evaluations. https://t.co/vig5zWOSzz
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 24, 2022
There’s not a lot of information at this point, such as which ligaments, how severe this is, what the treatment plan might be (surgery, rest) and how long it might take. Jeff Stotts echoes this at In Street Clothes.
Re: Chet: Key aspect of Sham’s tweet is seeing the injury described as a foot injury and not an ankle. Location of the ligament damage will dictate potential treatment options and any subsequent time lost.
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) August 24, 2022
It’s also worth pointing out that Holmgren is not the first player to get injured during an offseason pro-am. I have multiple examples in my database, including Brandon Knight who tore his ACL in 2017. Offseason injuries suck but still happen frequently.
— Jeff Stotts (@InStreetClothes) August 24, 2022
It’s unclear when the injury happened. However, Holmgren — a Gonzaga player — participated in the “Crawsover” pro-am last weekend in Seattle. On one play he was backpedaling defending LeBron James in transition, and after the play Holmgren came up limping. The coach quickly took him out of the game, and later the word was he had tweaked his ankle on the play. There wasn’t a lot of contact on the LeBron play, and Holmgren could have injured his foot in other workouts, but this also could have been when it occurred.
We will update this story as more details come in.
