This week, the Oklahoma City Thunder opened their season with a convincing win over the Denver Nuggets. Two teams expected to battle it out for top seeding in the West came out of the game on lopsided ends. But the play of OKC’s big man, Chet Holmgren, made the loudest noise. On ESPN’s NBA Today, the panel broke down OKC’s big win and Holmgren, to which one of the panelists made an explosive comparison to an NBA legend.
ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins Draws Comparisons Between Chet Holmgren and Kevin Garnett
Chet Outplayed Jokic and It Showed
Comparison games in any sport are often brushed off as too soon. Usually, the athlete causing comparisons to be brought up is relatively early in their career and lacks accomplishments. That brings us to Holmgren, who opened up his season in thunderous fashion against Nikola Jokic this past Thursday. The Thunder beat Denver 102-87—an impressive start against an excellent basketball team. However, Holmgren stole the show, which caused ESPN’s NBA analyst Kendrick Perkins to compare Chet’s play to Kevin Garnett.
Holmgren posted a 25-14-5 stat line, out-rebounding Jokic by two. Holmgren’s size, basketball IQ, and athleticism were on full display in the 15-point victory. A handful of plays had ESPN’s Perkins on his feet.
“Chet Holmgren…I mean he looked like a white version of Kevin Garnett last night. The passion, the rim rolling, the dunks, the boards, 16 rebounds.” Perkins continued, “…he straight up outplayed Jokic in every aspect on both ends of the floor. And look, he was 0 for 5 from the three, so that goes to show you that he was being aggressive, and when it comes to his skill set, I see a lot of KG in it, last night he showed a lot of it from the middy, to the inside, to the footwork, is skills, his boards, I mean, Chet was unreal.”
Besides Chet’s stats (Perkins was incorrect about his rebound total), he outdueled Jokic, a three-time league MVP, along the way. He made it a problem for the Nuggets to get good shots in the paint. His defensive block and eminent dunk mere seconds after leaving Jokic in the dust were quite the sequence. Holmgren outplayed his Denver counterpart all around.
Like Mike Kevin
One element that is certainly evident in Chet’s game is his emotion and power. Even last season, Chet’s energy and emotions were out in the open. Perkins also referenced the mid-range shot. Garnett was an excellent mid-range shooter, as much as a paint player and dunker. KG was never timid about drifting outside the paint, and neither is Chet. The only difference is Holmgren feels free to wander even further to shoot three-pointers. Garnett was never a long-range shooter, making only 174 threes in his career. Of course, the power forward/center game was much different in Garnett’s days, whereas now, there are a handful of big men that regularly shoot threes, Chet among them. He has shot 36.4% for his career and has already knocked down 129 threes since entering the league.
As Perkins alluded to, skill set-wise, Chet and Garnett are eerily similar. A simple eye test helps prove it. His rebounding, rim protection, and lanky physical makeup also match Garnett. KG might win in the category of who possesses more raw physical power and strength, but Holmgren, even in his slimmer build, is not far off. He attacks the glass as well as Garnett did, and his rebounding numbers are a testament to that.
Now, being that it’s now only Chet’s second NBA season, it’s way too early to submit that he will overtake Garnett as an all-time great. He’s definitely looking like someone who will make an impact for years though, just as Garnett did.
