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Circling the Oklahoma City Thunder like a kettle of vultures, teams across the league have learned that they won't let continuous ridicule and online mocking pressure into making a franchise-changing move. Sam Presti has kept his stock on Chet Holmgren. And now, his actions have backed that up.
In Zach Lowe's recent podcast, The Ringer's top NBA talent revealed that opposing front offices tried to pry away Holmgren from the Thunder — hoping his career-worst playoff series in the 2026 Western Conference Finals would see them get cold feet on the All-NBA talent's future.
"Teams have definitely asked about Chet Holmgren," Lowe said. "In the wake of the Chet collapse and have been rebuffed."
That makes sense. As much as social media has poked fun at Holmgren and his miserable four-point performance in a Game 7 loss to the San Antonio Spurs, the fact remains he's one of the league's best talents. The 24-year-old enjoyed a career year across the board as a first-time All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defense talent. He also finished runner-up in Defensive Player of the Year behind Victor Wembanyama.
In just four seasons, Holmgren has built up quite a resume. He was one of OKC's three best players in their championship run in the 2025 NBA playoffs. He owns the league record for most blocks in an NBA Finals Game 7 with five. At every level he's been on, his team has won at a high clip. He's about to start a five-year, $239.3 million contract.
Most of the league would love to have Holmgren on their roster — even if it comes with shaky offense at times. That's how valuable he is as a defensive anchor. There's a reason why all of the advanced metrics love him and OKC has had the league's best defense the last two years.
The Thunder hope Holmgren can eventually overcome his Wembanyama and Spurs problems. Nobody is asking him to match production for production with the latter, but he has to play a lot better than he did in the Western Conference Finals. You need your All-NBA talent to play like an All-NBA guy when things mattered the most.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Report: Thunder have received — and rejected — trade calls for Chet Holmgren
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