Chet Holmgren’s battle against Victor Wembanyama for Rookie of the Year was arguably the brightest highlight of the 2023-24 NBA season. Especially given the opposing situation that their respective teams were in during the campaign, it all came down to the voters’ criteria on what they valued most, something that was always going to be very subjective. Recently, Chet delivered his candid thoughts on the same.
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During his appearance on The Road Trippin’ podcast, Holmgren was asked if he believed he should have won Rookie of the Year. As he asked this, Richard Jefferson announced that there was a lot more pressure on the OKC man, given that he had to cope with the pressure of having to perform on a winning team. In his response, the 22-year-old elected to deliver a slightly diplomatic answer, stating,
“Yes, our situations were different… Yeah, polar opposites! I mean, you can come up with 50 pros and cons for each of us on things outside of statistics… like, you can come with a million different things for each of us, as to, try and skew decisions. But like, at the end of the day, what is the criteria?… It’s all in the eye of the beholder”
While Chet made it clear that he believed he could’ve also won Rookie of the Year, he did not think of Victor Wembanyama as an unworthy winner. Instead, he understood that there were no set criteria and a winning case could have been made for both of them.
It does seem as though he doesn’t seem to take things too seriously outside of just improving on his own game. In fact, we can even say the same about his rivalry with Wembanyama.
Holmgren on his rivalry with Wembanyama
At many different stretches during the 2023-24 NBA season, many believed that there was a real rivalry brewing between Chet and Wemby. However, while this may or may not be the case, Holmgren was nothing more than diplomatic, when speaking about one of their matchups from this past season. This is what he told ESPN’s Omar Raja,
“Just try to go out there with the understanding, that you know like, obviously big narrative [Wembanyama vs Holmgren] around the game because of the matchup and everything. But, also understanding that it is still Thunder vs the Spurs and that we gotta win a basketball game.”
Whether Chet Holmgren takes it as a special challenge to play Victor Wembanyama’s San Antonio Spurs is unclear. However, it’s clear that he has decided to be diplomatic in what he tells the media about it. And as much as some fans may not like it, this likely won’t be changing anytime soon either.
