Everyone has their own title?
Chet Holmgren is the story of a young man from Minnesota with talent proportional to his height (2.16 m). But it's also the story of a basketball player who fell in the wrong year. Because being one of the stars of the leading team in the Western Conference with such statistics (16.6 pts, 7.9 rebounds and 2.3 blocks) should normally have been enough to win the title of Rookie Of the Year (ROY) almost every season. But not this one. Not the one where the Alien “Wemby” landed on the NBA planet. The previous year could (should) have been his. But, drafted in 2nd position by the Thunder in the spring of 2022, the Minnesotan suffered a ligament injury in his right midfoot during a friendly match the following summer. Which forced him to give up the 2022-23 season.
Back at the dawn of the 2023-2024 financial year, his duel with Wemby was expected. It took place, until that famous February evening and that crucial counterattack. Before that, the two men exchanged the number 1 place in the Rookie Ladder, which serves as a barometer for this individual award.
Chet will therefore not be the ROY, but he could well be the one who wins the crown and the ring next June (his team currently leads 2-0 against the Pelicans in the 1st round of the Playoffs). And that's perhaps the most important thing for him, ultimately.
