Oklahoma City Thunder
Breakout candidate: Chet Holmgren
In the Western Conference, the Oklahoma City Thunder are going to enter the season as one of the most intriguing young teams in the league. Many believe that this is the season that it will finally begin to all come together for the young Thunder. And while one of the biggest reasons revolves around the greatness of Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, there’s one other player on the roster who could help the Thunder take a big step forward – Chet Holmgren. Even though he hasn’t played a regular-season minute for the Thunder, entering his second season in the league, he qualifies as a breakout candidate in my opinion.
Holmgren was impressive during his showing in the NBA Summer League and through the first couple of showings in preseason. There isn’t much that Holmgren can’t do on the basketball court. In fact, you can probably make the argument that Holmgren is basically Victor Wembanyama without the hype coming into the league.
I’m not saying Holmgren is as good of a prospect as Wemby is, but there is a lot of overlap in their ability. That should tell you all you need to know about Holmgren.