Chet Holmgren's Postgame Interview Was Arguably More Impressive Than His Electrifying Thunder Debut

Forgive me if I wasn't watching Chet Holmgren do interviews at 2 a.m. ET in the aftermath of blowing out Pepperdine and Pacific by a bazillion points while he was at Gonzaga, but I don't remember seeing anything like this from him, or from anyone, before or since.

Put whatever sort of stock you want to in Holmgren's phenomenal first outing with the Oklahoma City Thunder. Most people don't give a fuck about Summer League. If you look at his line of 23 points, seven boards, four assists and Summer League-record six blocks and don't come away impressed, I don't know what to tell you. 

What you can put stock in is how a No. 2 overall pick carries himself. Already making fast friends with a hopeful fellow franchise cornerstone in Josh Giddey is one thing. Pulling him into your first-ever postgame interview in the NBA when you just dominated and could've taken all the credit is something else entirely. The hard-boiled cynic in your heart could be saying Chet is doing this to create a good first impression. I would argue the gesture aligns seamlessly with how he played on Tuesday. As mind-boggling as Chet's stats were, nothing he did was forced or the result of some prima donna star player demanding he gets his precious touches. It was all within the flow of the game.

Nothing about this situation seems forced or inauthentic. In addition to gassing up Giddey, Chet seemed surprised that six blocks was the high water mark for Summer League, and said he's keen to break it again. If there were any skeptics about this dude's competitive spirit, he's showing in Summer League of all places that it doesn't need to be a concern at all.

As I said leading into the NBA Draft, I would've taken Chet first overall without a second thought. With all due respect to Paolo Banchero — who I didn't necessarily hate as a prospect coming out of Duke — looks like the Orlando Magic clowned themselves and fucked up in the draft yet again. I'm still driving the Chet bandwagon and have not doubted him for one second. The 20-year-old phenom is already making history.