San Antonio was missing two of their leading distributors and it showed as the offense self destructed with 25 turnovers and poor shooting.
OKLAHOMA CITY — Oklahoma City crushed San Antonio 123-87 on Tuesday night in a game that likely featured the Rookie of the Year, though it’s unlikely that fans will be able to agree now or at the end of the season whether the award should go to Victor Wembanyama or Chet Holmgren.
Both struggled individually, but the Spurs struggled more without two of their top three distributors as they went through a stretch of over 8 minutes with just a single made basket. San Antonio had 24 assists and 25 turnovers and shot under 40% from the floor in the frustrating loss.
San Antonio actually had a lead late in the first half, but they let go of the rope and never grabbed it again.
To start the game Chet tried to pick off a pass intended for Wemby on the side, but the ball slipped past his fingers. Wembanyama whipped it around his back and drove toward the baseline, then eurostepped through the help defender for a smooth dunk.
The French teenager grabbed 6 boards in the early going, and the young Spurs came out of the gate with the defensive intensity that’s been missing from many of their losses this year. San Antonio led 48-45 with about two minutes to play in the first half, but the Thunder took over with a brutal 30-2 run that extended into the third quarter.
San Antonio clearly missed two of their best offensive weapons and distributors in Tre Jones and Keldon Johnson, who combine for over 10 assists per game. Without them the Spurs turned it over 25 times and gave up 31 fast-break points to the Thunder.
The offense didn’t just bog down, it was more like the engine died miles from home in a place with no cell service. The turnovers were ugly and so was the shooting. Things got a bit chippy in the fourth quarter as tensions boiled over with who else but Zach Collins.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander looked like an MVP candidate with 28 points, 6 rebounds, 5 assists and 7 steals in just three quarters. San Antonio lost their sixth in a row and fell to 3-8 on the year.
Neither Wembanyama nor Holmgren had a particularly good game by their lofty standards. Wemby finished with 14 rebounds and 8 points on 4-15 shooting with 2 assists and 2 blocks. Holmgren had 9 points on 10 shots with 7 boards, 3 assists, 2 steals and a block in the win. For Wembanyama, it was his first NBA game with under 10 points.
The pair of long lanky youngsters both have tantalizing perimeter skills and defensive impact that’s already among the league’s best. They have already done battle in international play and in the preseason, and the battles will continue to grow in intensity and importance as both teams eventually climb out of a rebuild and into contention. They share a position and a division, but they won’t be able to share the Wilt Chamberlain Trophy. Ownership of that once-or-never honor will come down to the differences between these two and the team contexts that they each play in, and how the voters weigh all of that.
The budding rivalry has a bit of juice, and these guys both bring the competitive edge to make it truly special. Wemby already seems like he’s not out to make friends with anyone on the other team, and Chet has zero backdown in him. Recall when these two met in a thrilling preseason duel and Wembanyama drove through his counterpart’s face for an and-1 dunk. The Frenchman flexed, and the Gonzaga product responded after the game with a hilarious tweet.
Wembanyama had 20 points on 11 shots and a truly astounding array of highlights, but the Thunder got the win and Holmgren scored 21 points on 10 shots. Perhaps a harbinger of things to come.
Before we dig into nuance, let’s take a peek at the raw per-game numbers and shooting splits for this season removed from context completely.
Wemby: 19.7 points, 8.8 rebounds, 2.5 assists, 3.8 turnovers, 1.1 steals, 2.4 blocks. 44.7%/29.8%/76.6% FG/3PT/FT
Chet: 16.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.6 assists, 2.0 turnovers, 0.9 steals, 2.3 blocks. 54.9%/50%/89.5% FG/3PT/FT
So Wembanyama has an edge in most of the counting stats while Chet has a clear edge in terms of accuracy. Holmgren recently spoke about his efficiency in a story from Anthony Slater at the Athletic.
“I’ve always been someone who tries to win basketball games,” he said. “Making it all about myself isn’t going to help this team do that. Getting 30 points on 35 shots doesn’t make you a great scorer, you know what I’m saying? I try to make my looks count. The more efficient you are, the better chance you have to win a basketball game.”
This wasn’t necessarily in the context of the comparison with Wembanyama, who has never shot the ball 30 times in an NBA game. His most ever was 26 in that 38-point win over the Suns. But Chet probably knew when he said it that this will be a key talking point in the ROTY debate right up until it’s settled. Efficiency and winning are likely going to be the main advantages he has, and those things should be considered in any sort of award giving. Holmgren isn’t wrong in saying efficiency helps winning more than volume scoring.
But is that the most important thing to consider for Rookie of the Year? And don’t we need to consider the vastly different circumstances these kids find themselves in?
Five years ago OKC blew things up and sent Paul George to the Clippers for Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Danilo Gallinari, four first-round picks and three first-round pick swaps. Russell Westbrook was dealt for Chris Paul, who helped drag the team to the playoffs the next season. After his departure the Thunder won under 30% of their games over the next two years improving their own draft odds and acquiring more picks along the way.
SGA has developed into an All-NBA player and the Thunder have slowly but surely assembled a young core of talent around him. Jalen Williams was a runner up for rookie of the year in 2022, and Holmgren could’ve been in that conversation as well, but the second pick suffered a season-ending injury before the season even started. Josh Giddey is a talented young playmaker with extra positional size, and Lu Dort’s 3 and D is a perfect fit.
Holmgren slots in as the third-leading scorer on a squad that went 40-42 last year. The starting lineup around him features a pair of point guards, adequate spacing, and reliable scoring that prevents defenses from keying in on the 20-year-old rookie. It opens up easier opportunities for Holmgren in the flow of the offense.
Ten games into the season, Holmgren has attempted 36 three-point shots. 33 of those attempts were catch-and-shoot looks, as were all 18 of his makes. 35 of those 36 attempts were classified by the NBA’s play tracking data as open (7) or wide-open (28).
Wembanyama is currently 17-57 from deep in the early stages, but his diet of shots is different. He’s 10-38 on catch-and-shoot looks, but 7-19 from deep off the dribble. He’s 3-14 (21.4%) on tightly guarded triples, 8-27 (29.6%) when open, and 6-16 (37.5%) when wide open.
The Spurs are allowing Wembanyama to post up and isolate a bit as he explores that part of his game. The playmaking fluidity and potential is the main thing that sets Wemby apart from everyone else taller than 7 feet, including Holmgren. It’s the thing that makes him such an intriguing prospect.
That same article from Slater notes that Draymond Green noted Holmgren’s 24 points on 7-9 shooting, and said that in his own way Chet is going to try to do what Green has done: “morphing into a defensive anchor and complimentary offensive piece around some star offensive talent to create a perennial winner.”
Holmgren has the body, talent and attitude to become a great NBA player even though he may never be the heliocentric engine on offense. His best role might be something similar to what Kristaps Porzingis is doing in Boston right now. One of the first guys to be called a unicorn the 7’3″ sniper is the third or fourth option for the Celtics on offense, but his combination of size and skill could be the exact thing that puts his team over the top for a title this season.
None of this is a knock on the 20-year-old Holmgren, who is already making a serious two-way impact at the very start of his pro career. And none of this is to say that he won’t develop a crisp and elusive handle and eventually become a go-to guy. There is, however, a reason that Chet was the second pick in 2022 and Wembanyama was widely hailed as the best prospect of the last 20 years.
Wemby’s ability to create puts him on a higher tier as a player and prospect. He has a realistic path to a ceiling and playstyle near Giannis or KD, he can soon become the center of the universe for a championship team. He’s already the go-to guy for the young Spurs. Here’s where he ranks on the team 10 games into his rookie season.
- Points: 1 (19.7)
- Field goal attempts: 1 (16.1)
- Three-point attempts: 2 (5.7)
- Free throw attempts: 1 (4.7)
- Offensive rebounds: 1 (2.0)
- Rebounds: 1 (8.8)
- Assists: 6 (2.5)
- Steals: 1 (1.1)
- Blocks: 1 (2.4)
- Games played: 1 (10)
- Minutes: 2 (30.2)
It’s not that Wembanyama is making it about himself or hogging the ball, he’s just already probably San Antonio’s most important player. That’s insane for a teenager, and the more insane bit is that he seems ready to take on the challenge.
The Spurs have a net rating of -6.2 with Wemby on the floor versus -22 when he goes to the bench. The only player with a bigger swing is Tre Jones, who is also the only player on the team with a positive net rating.
With San Antonio’s main playmakers banged up, the team had to rely even more on their 19-year-old superstar to create for himself and others as the Thunder circle his face on the scouting report.
It provided a fascinating stage to see in stark contrast the difference between the situations these spectacular rookies find themselves in, and the difference in what they’re able to do and asked to do at the very start of their careers.
When Wembanyama visited New York for a humbling debut at Madison Square Garden, a member of the media asked about the unicorn moniker that’s been used to describe the rare jump-shooting giants that now roam NBA arenas.
“That nickname’s been used over and over, so I’m not really a big fan of it,” Wemby said with a smile. “Just like LeBron said, everybody’s been a unicorn. There’s just one alien, right?”
Much like Holmgren’s quote about efficiency this wasn’t necessarily about his rival for Rookie of the Year, even though it’s one of the main things that will be in his favor when the votes are cast.
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