Shai Gilgeous-Alexander isn’t letting Chet Holmgren wear the loss alone.
After Holmgren’s rough showing in the 2026 Western Conference Finals against the San Antonio Spurs, the Oklahoma City Thunder star made it clear he sees the bigger picture. Holmgren, the team’s star big man, was expected to rise in a seven-game battle that put him in the spotlight opposite Victor Wembanyama, but the series never really broke his way.
Holmgren finished the matchup averaging 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks per game. Those numbers might pass muster for plenty of players, but they fell short of the standard attached to him in that series, and he took the bulk of the heat when Oklahoma City came up short against San Antonio.
Gilgeous-Alexander pushed back on that idea when speaking to TIME.
"I don’t think it’s on Chet. I carry a lot of the weight.
The only way you can truly fail is if you don’t learn from the moment. I know the type of guy he is.
And I know what type of worker he is. He’ll definitely do it," Gilgeous-Alexander said about Holmgren to TIME.
That’s the kind of response that matches the way Gilgeous-Alexander has carried himself over the past two seasons. He’s won MVP in both campaigns, kept producing at a high level, and continued to present himself as the steady voice in Oklahoma City. In this case, that voice was aimed at making sure one teammate didn’t absorb the blame for a team loss.
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