OKC Thunder Organization Showed up for Chet Holmgren Jersey Retirement at Minnehaha Academy

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Credit: Photo: Joel Lorenzi (@jxlorenzi - X)

Chet Holmgren will probably go down as the best basketball player the state of Minnesota has ever produced, a title I imagine he will hold for quite awhile. I mean, it’s not very often a #1 overall pick, 7-foot unicorn who can handle, shoot from everywhere and bang down low arises out of the MN high school ranks.

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But that’s what Holmgren is. So with his NBA team, the Oklahoma City Thunder (#2 seed in the West right now), in town for a Saturday night matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves (#1 seed in the West), Chet’s high school, Minnehaha Academy held a jersey retirement ceremony for the 21-year-old Minneapolis native.

Entire OKC Thunder organization shows up for Minnehaha Academy retirement ceremony.

I know the Wolves play a big regular season game against the Thunder tomorrow night but it’s hard not to love the support the OKC organization showed for ‘one of us’ Chet Holmgren on tonight. Except Josh Giddey, who they must’ve left back at the hotel to keep an eye on the team’s stuff.

For good reason, the basketball world was excited about what 2023 #1 overall pick, Victor Wembenyama, would bring to the NBA this season, as a 7-foot something talent good enough to flip a struggling organization back onto a winning track.

But in the process, they forgot about Chet Holmgren, 2022 #1 overall pick who missed all of last season with injury. He’s been pretty impossible to forget about through 40 games this year. In take-two of Chet Holmgren’s league debut, he’s averaging 17.4 points, 7.2 rebounds and 2.5 blocks per game and he’s now the betting favorite to win NBA Rookie of the Year.

Wemby’s Spurs are in the gutter of the Western Conference while Holmgren and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander have the Thunder fighting with the Wolves near the peak. I love seeing Chet succeed, until tomorrow night and any other time he runs into the Minnesota Timberwolves during his career. In those games, I hope he plays terrible.

Related: Chet Holmgren Named Gatorade National Boys Basketball POY; First Ever From MN

Here is more local and national reaction to Holmgren’s jersey retirement and the support shown by his NBA teammates and the entire Thunder organization.

Related: Are Minnesota Timberwolves on Pace for Best Season in Franchise History?

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