Chet Holmgren nears return from quad bruise as Wembanyama questions follow him into Thunder's season

A quiet preseason so far

Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren has yet to appear in a preseason game this fall. He sat out the Oct. 6 opener against New Orleans in what was described as a planned rest day, then was held out of games against Milwaukee, Atlanta and Indiana with a left quadriceps contusion, according to RotoWire's injury reports, which cited USA Today's Clemente Almanza. ^{[1] [2]}

That leaves Thursday night's game against the Houston Rockets, scheduled for 7:30 p.m. CT, as Holmgren's final chance to get preseason minutes. An OKC Thunder Wire preview published Thursday listed him among Oklahoma City's projected starters and noted no injury concern for him, while RotoWire's player page still carried a questionable tag as of Thursday. The Thunder open the regular season on Oct. 20 at San Antonio. ^{[3] [1] [2]}

The Wembanyama question

The opener puts Holmgren right back in front of the player who has defined much of the conversation around him. The Spurs eliminated Oklahoma City in Game 7 of the 2026 Western Conference finals, and Holmgren finished that game with four points and four rebounds on two shots in nearly 33 minutes. For the series he averaged 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks, below his regular-season output, columnist Barry Tramel wrote in a commentary distributed by Tribune News Service. ^{[4] [2]}

LeBron James weighed in on a recent episode of the Mind The Game podcast with Steve Nash. When Nash suggested Wembanyama could guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, James laughed and said, "They be cheating," calling Wembanyama "a real-life cheat code." He added that "the narrative now is like, can Chet do anything with Wemby," and wondered whether Holmgren had used that talk as motivation over the summer, EssentiallySports reported on Oct. 13. ^[5]

What Holmgren and the Thunder have said

Holmgren has pushed back on the idea that the series changed him. Asked at media day about his play against San Antonio, he said, "I don't think my process changed at all," according to Tramel's column. Gilgeous-Alexander called Holmgren a cornerstone of the team and said he is "the same guy, same character," while general manager Sam Presti described him as "an intrinsically driven guy who's going to get better." ^[4]

Bigger contract, bigger role

The stakes rise this season. Holmgren's salary jumps from $13.7 million to $41.5 million as his five-year extension, worth about $190 million, kicks in, according to Tramel. He made third-team All-NBA last season and finished second in Defensive Player of the Year voting. ^[4]

Oklahoma City also reshaped its rotation in the offseason, trading Luguentz Dort, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe, and RotoWire has noted that the moves could open a larger offensive role for Holmgren. How quickly he can shake off the quad injury will shape how much of that role he takes on when the games start counting. ^{[4] [2]}