Thunder's Chet Holmgren Out for Season After Suffering Foot Injury in Pro-Am

The Oklahoma City Thunder got brutal news about Chet Holmgren's right foot.

Per ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski, the seven-footer will miss the entire 2022-23 season because of a Lisfranc injury.

The Athletic's Shams Charania reported on Aug. 24 that exams showed Holmgren has "potential torn ligaments" in his foot and was being evaluated further to determine the severity and a timetable for his recovery.

The 20-year-old suffered the injury while playing defense against Los Angeles Lakers star LeBron James at a pro-am game in Seattle.

ESPN's Bobby Marks reported Holmgren's future earnings are not in jeopardy because the Crawsover event is covered under an Exhibit 5 provision in Holmgren's contract.

The No. 2 pick in this year's draft, Holmgren has lofty expectations as he joins a Thunder team in the midst of a rebuild. Many believe he has a high ceiling with the potential to develop into the best player of his draft class over time.

Holmgren committed to Gonzaga after being ranked as the No. 1 college recruit in 2021 by 247Sports' composite. In his lone season with the Bulldogs, he averaged 14.1 points, 9.9 rebounds and 3.7 blocks to help lead the team to the Sweet 16 in the NCAA Tournament. Holmgren was named a consensus second-team All-American selection and won WCC Defensive Player of the Year.

He followed his strong freshman season at Gonzaga with an impressive showing at the 2022 Summer League in Las Vegas. In five games, Holmgren averaged 14.0 points, 8.4 rebounds, 2.8 assists, and 2.8 blocks.

The injury to Holmgren is a huge setback for the Thunder this season, as the team was hoping to insert him into a core that consists of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort and Josh Giddey. Holmgren's development will take a bit of a hit while he's out as he's losing time to build chemistry with his teammates.

Veteran Derrick Favors and youngsters Aleksej Pokusevski and Ousmane Dieng will be counted on to hold down the center position in Oklahoma City.