MINNEAPOLIS — There’s a Life Time gym in the basement of Target Center. It’s here, beneath the home of the Timberwolves, where Chet Holmgren used to play in pick-up runs every day after school.
It’s where the Minneapolis native competed as a teenager against grown men. Where he once rolled up on a Memphis Grizzlies workout. He remembers Jerry Stackhouse, then a Grizzlies assistant, “bombing all the shots.”
Upstairs, inside the 19,000-seat Target Center, is where Holmgren won four Minnesota state championships with Minnehaha Academy — a prep school 5 miles from downtown on the banks of the Mississippi River.
Target Center, fittingly enough, is where Holmgren would’ve made his NBA debut with the Thunder in October 2022 had he not sustained a foot injury that sidelined him for the entirety of what would’ve been his rookie season.
Holmgren has since played in front of his hometown fans, but not on a stage like this.
Game 3 of the Western Conference finals was a rotten homecoming for Holmgren. The Timberwolves flashed their teeth, howling deep into the night of a 143-101 win.
Holmgren had 10 points and five rebounds in 21 minutes. He and the rest of the Thunder’s starters were run off the floor.
“They did what they wanted to do,” Holmgren said, “and we didn’t stop them.”
Series are long, though, and the Thunder still leads this one 2-1. Game 3 is slated for 7:30 p.m. Monday in Minneapolis.
Chet Holmgren’s Minnesota roots
It’s been four years since Holmgren has been a full-time Minnesota resident. The two full-length basketball courts in the bowels of that Life Time fitness center have been converted into pickleball courts and cross-training spaces.
Imagine Holmgren’s disgust.
Basketball is in his genes.
Holmgren’s dad, Dave — unmissable at Thunder games with the same frame of his son — played college ball at Minnesota from 1984-88.
Chet started garnering national attention as a sophomore at Minnehaha Academy, but he wasn’t the team’s star player. That title belonged to Jalen Suggs, the Magic guard who preceded Holmgren by a year in their paths from Minnehaha to Gonzaga to the Association. Suggs sat courtside for Game 3, dapping Holmgren up before the game.
Holmgren was a full-blown sensation by his senior year at Minnehaha. He was the consensus No. 1 prospect in the 2021 recruiting class ahead of Paolo Banchero. A year later, they flipped spots in the 2022 NBA Draft.
Banchero went first to the Magic. The Thunder took Holmgren second. Neither OKC nor Orlando would want a do-over.
Chet Holmgren rounding into playoff form
It’s strange to say the Thunder, six wins from the NBA title, is still developing, but what else would you expect of a team this young? A team that began the season with the youngest roster in the NBA, average age: 24 years and 148 days. A team whose Big Three of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Holmgren are 26, 24 and 23.
Holmgren, the baby among them, is also the least polished — hampered by two freak injuries not often seen on the basketball court.
“He’s a third-year player, but injuries have occupied about half of that time, and so he’s still a growing player,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “There’s still runway for him in a lot of areas.
“You leave a game and usually there’s a lot he can learn from that game, and you look back and say, ‘Man, he was impactful in his minutes despite that.’ And that’s exciting.”
Holmgren suffered a Lisfranc injury in his right foot the summer before what would have been his rookie season. Surgery and an extensive rehab process sidelined him for the season.
He bounced back last season, playing in all 82 games and finishing second to rival Victor Wembanyama in Rookie of the Year voting.
Then, in Game 10 this season, Holmgren leapt to contest Andrew Wiggins at the rim. Wiggins finished the bucket, and Holmgren landed hard on his hip. It was fractured — an injury that sidelined Holmgren for three months.
Pre hip injury, Holmgren was playing like an All-Star. An All-NBA player, even. There have been flashes of that Chet in these playoffs. Enough to where you sometimes forget what he’s gone through.
Holmgren is averaging more points (15.7) in 14 playoff games than he did in 32 regular-season games (15.0). He’s also averaging 8.8 rebounds in the playoffs, up from 8.0 in the regular season. His defense remains elite. His offensive efficiency has dipped, but that’s to be expected this time of year.
Especially for a player who’s still finding his legs.
“Dude broke his hip,” teammate Alex Caruso said Sunday. “At some point this year, he wasn’t walking, and now he’s getting back to double-doubles and affecting shots at the rim and stretching the floor for us.”
That’s the Holmgren the Thunder needs in Game 4, in a gym where Holmgren is used to winning.
Joe Mussatto is a sports columnist for The Oklahoman. Have a story idea for Joe? Email him at jmussatto@oklahoman.com. Support Joe’s work and that of other Oklahoman journalists by purchasing a digital subscription today at subscribe.oklahoman.com.
