In news we absolutely hate to see, it looks like Oklahoma City Thunder first-round pick Chet Holmgren may have suffered a pretty serious injury after playing in Jamal Crawford’s CrawsOver League a few weeks ago.
This was just an ordinary game at first. Holmgren played in the league often through the summer. In his final game, though, he went up to contest a LeBron James layup on a fastbreak and wound up turning an ankle. He came up hurt and limped a bit after the contest.
The game ended shortly after because of wet floors, but as it turns out the injury might be a lot more serious than just an ankle tweak.
Holmgren apparently has a torn ligament in his foot, according to The Athletic’s Shams Charania.
There’s fear Oklahoma City Thunder No. 2 pick Chet Holmgren has suffered ligament damage in his foot and he is undergoing further opinions, sources tell @TheAthletic @Stadium.
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 24, 2022
There’s no exact timetable as of yet, per Charania, and Holmgren is still seeking opinions. But none of it sounds great.
Exams show Chet Holmgren has potential torn ligaments in his foot, sources said. A timetable is being determined based on further evaluations. https://t.co/vig5zWOSzz
— Shams Charania (@ShamsCharania) August 24, 2022
Torn ligaments anywhere in your body are awful, but especially so when talking about the lower extremities on your body. Feet, legs, knees. None of that is good and, typically, comes with long recovery times.
I am not a doctor and everybody’s body heals a bit differently. But we saw a similar injury to another rookie last season in Jason Preston.
He got injured in early October and had surgery on October 7. He didn’t actually return play for the Clippers last season but eventually began traveling with the team in late March. The timeline was 26 weeks.
The Athletic’s Law Murray has more.
“Preston underwent surgery to repair ligament damage to his right foot on Oct. 7 after getting around the campus at San Diego State via scooter while the Clippers held camp. Two months later, he got his right sneaker back. By the end of February, Preston was able to work out on the court pregame. The attention on him by the coaches, at times, is at a level where he has more than half of Lue’s staff attending to him at once.”
It’s not all doom and gloom, despite seeing this precedent.
The comparison is not apples to apples. And, again, everyone heals differently. Also, Preston underwent surgery at the start of October. Any further action with Holmgren will come much sooner than that, which means he’ll heal sooner as well.
But there’s a chance that this injury keeps Chet Holmgren on the sideline through this season depending on the severity of it. At this point, the only thing we can do is hope for the best.
Get those prayers up to the Basketball Gods, y’all.
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