OKC fans really can’t catch a break these days. Oklahoma’s #2 overall pick from the 2022 draft, Chet Holmgren, has injured his foot in a CrawsOver Pro-am game and is now out for the ENITRE 2022/23 NBA season.
The Oklahoma City Thunder must have committed blasphemy against the NBA gods as yet another thing that could go wrong for this franchise has gone wrong.
While guarding LeBron James on a fast break in a CrawsOver Pro-am game, Chet Holmgren badly damaged his foot when the King came down on him hard. It was an innocent looking play as LeBron just went up for a layup and landed normally, but Holmgren came out of that exchange hobbling around and looked to be in serious pain.
Anyway, you’re probably wondering what the injury is, right? Well, it’s called a Lisfranc injury.
If you’re wondering what in the world that is, you’re not alone. I had no idea when I first saw Holmgren’s suffered that injury too.
But don’t let that weird name fool you as it’s actually a really bad injury. Essentially, (if I’m getting this right) the Lisfranc is a collection of small bones and ligaments in the middle of the foot that allow us the ability to walk, run, and move because it connects the metatarsal bones (bridge of the foot to the toes) to the rest of the foot. In other words, if this is broken, you can’t walk or run.
So, when LeBron landed from his jump, he must have stepped right on Holmgren’s foot and broke those small bones. 1. That’s crazy how strong The King’s jumps are to be able to just break someone’s foot from falling on it (and he didn’t even leap that high), 2. This injury is super unfortunate for both Holmgren and the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Not only was this year going to be vital in Holmgren’s development towards becoming an elite NBA center, but was also going to be crucial for the Thunder to evaluate the remaining holes they need to fill on this roster. They can’t do that efficiently now with Holmgren out.
Ever since Russell Westbrook left three years ago, the Thunder have been one of the worst teams in the NBA as they have sorely lacked game-changing talent to replace the aging Westbrook.
That’s why they had such a high draft pick to draft Holmgren in the first place. He was supposed to be the anchor that replaced Westbrook’s MVP stats and spearheaded the Thunder back into playoffs. Yet, that’s obviously not happening this year.
Without Holmgren, this team sorely lacks the talent that could have kept them from being bottom feeders in the NBA for another season. Therefore, I can’t see how OKC Thunder avoid finishing last in Western Conference, and one of the Bottom-3 teams in the entire NBA.
Thankfully, this injury doesn’t have serious, long-term implications as the five other NBA players that have suffered this setback all came back and performed at a high level. As long as Holmgren takes it easy and rehabs this injury properly, then he’ll be back in no time.
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