Shai Gilgeous-Alexander Defends Chet Holmgren After Thunder Lose Western Conference Finals
The Oklahoma City Thunder are out of the playoffs after losing the Western Conference Finals to the San Antonio Spurs in seven games. Most of the postgame conversation has centered on what comes next for a Thunder team that fell short of the Finals after a 68-win regular season. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander used his platform to clear something up.
SGA stepped to the microphone after the loss and made a point of defending Chet Holmgren, his All-Star big man who took the most criticism during the series. The reigning MVP refused to let his teammate get scapegoated for a series that was decided by a lot more than one player.
Holmgren had a rough series, no question. The matchup with Victor Wembanyama was brutal. Wemby went off in the back half of the series, while Holmgren shot poorly and struggled to stay out of foul trouble. The numbers were ugly. The fan reaction was uglier.
SGA was not having it. He praised Holmgren’s effort. He noted that the entire team came up short, not just the third-year big. He pointed to specific moments where Holmgren made winning plays. He took the heat off and put it on himself.
That is the kind of leadership a franchise needs from its best player.
The Thunder are still set up to be a Finals contender for years. SGA is 27. Holmgren is 24. Jalen Williams is 25. The core is in its prime, and Sam Presti has draft capital stockpiled to bring in reinforcements over the next two years. This loss hurts, but it does not change the bigger picture.
What this loss showed is the gap between elite regular-season basketball and championship-level playoff basketball. The Thunder dominated the league for 82 games. They could not solve the Wembanyama puzzle when it mattered most. That is not on Holmgren alone. That is on a coaching staff that ran out of adjustments, a bench that came up short, and a star core that did not have enough left in the tank when the series tightened up.
SGA averaged 28 points per game in the series, but his efficiency dropped late. Williams had stretches of brilliance and stretches of struggle. Lu Dort was excellent on defense. The supporting cast was thin against San Antonio’s lineup.
Holmgren took the most heat because the box score told an easy story. Big man on big man, Wemby won. The reality is more complicated. Wembanyama is the best young player in the league. Holmgren is one of the best young big men in the league. The gap between them is not as wide as a single series suggests.
SGA used his exit interview the way a star is supposed to. He took ownership. He defended a teammate. He pointed the team toward next year. The Thunder will be a problem again in 2026-27. Anybody scapegoating Chet Holmgren in the meantime is going to look foolish twelve months from now.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
