Despite hot start to NBA career, rookie Chet Holmgren remains humble: ‘I haven’t proven sh*t’

Despite having only played professionally for less than three months, Chet Holmgren is leading the current Rookie of the Year race and has proved to have what it takes to dominate the NBA in the future. Even though the young center has become a starter for the Oklahoma squad this season, he’s convinced he hasn’t proven anything yet.

The former No.2 pick of the draft has produced averages of 17.6 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.7 assists, 0.7 steals, 2.7 blocks and even 1.7 three-pointers per game over 32 matches in total. The seven-footer has also turned out to be an effective shooter, dropping in 54.3% from the floor, 40.7% from beyond the arc, and 83.2.% from the free throw line.

The Thunder big man is currently ranking 2nd among rookies in scoring and blocks, as well as 3rd in rebounds per contest. As if it wasn’t enough, he’s started every single game for his team so far, as OKC is second in the Western Conference.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=OiTEsNVD5Pw

Despite the fact that he’s been receiving lots of praise for his performances, Chet remains humble by saying he still has a not to learn from the NBA.“I haven’t proven s**t. I’ve played 30 games,” he said after practice this week. “I’ve still got a long way to go on that one.”

In a recent appearance on “The Big Podcast”, Shaquille O’Neal shared the reasons why he believes the exact same thing as Holmgren, as he dismissed the notion that labels the youngster as a “phenomenal” athlete.

The Hall of Famer isn’t too impressed of the rookie’s campaign so far, as he’s always insisted that players should put in the work before earning true admiration.”Y’all throwin’ around words that we had to work hard for,” he said. “Phenomenal’s not the right word…He’s good, but don’t be going ‘promising’ and ‘great’ and ‘future Hall of Famer.’”

“Startin’ today, I’m puttin’ an end to all that s**t. I am, startin’ today. Y’all can’t just be giving these people things who ain’t put in no work,” Shaq added.

The Lakers icon then explained why true worth should be earned if you show consistency over many years in the top league, not after a brief stretch of matches. “Phenomenal is the wrong word,” O’Neal expressed. ”And you can’t use dominant unless he does it for a consistent amount of time. I’m not talkin’ two or three games. I’m talkin’ years.”

Rival Kristaps Porzingis was impressed by Holmgren after his dominant performance against the Celtics

After Oklahoma beat Boston on Tuesday night, many opponents expressed their admiration for the 21-year-old after he scored 14 points, delivered 4 blocks, won 3 rebounds and handed out 7 assists.

Big man Kristaps Porzingis is now convinced that his young opponent is the real deal. “I love his mindset,” he started out. “Just by the way he plays I can tell he’s a hard worker and he’s playing really hard.”

Kristaps Porzingis was very impressed by Chet Holmgren in last night's Celtics loss:

"Honestly, I'm a little bit surprised. He's really good. He's already really effective on a really, really good team. He's the real deal."

(via @NBCSBoston) pic.twitter.com/z6YwYEYIhh

— Noa Dalzell 🏀 (@NoaDalzellNBA) January 3, 2024

The Latvian star even admitted feeling surprised after the contest. “He’s already effective playing with a really good team,” he concluded postgame.

Kristaps knows what he’s talking about, because it is definitely uncommon to see rookies leading teams all the way to the top, as the Thunder hold an impressive 23-9 record.