Thunder’s Chet Holmgren has been able to spend plenty of time in his hometown lately

The NBA schedule pits the Timberwolves and Thunder against each other three times in four games.

For Oklahoma City 7-1 forward and Minneapolis’ own Chet Holmgren, it’s a fleeting opportunity to go home again.

Or stay.

The two teams began this stretch at Target Center on Feb. 13, right before All-Star break started. That enabled Holmgren to remain in Minnesota for a long, cold weekend with family and friends before the Minnehaha Academy graduate returned to Oklahoma City and resumed the work needed for a player injury-prone so far in his first three NBA seasons.

“I miss a lot of things about Minnesota, but winter is not one of them,” Holmgren said.

He was back home in the Twin Cities again Saturday for Sunday night’s game, a 130-123 victory for Oklahoma City. In between, the Thunder won at Utah on Friday night in their first game back from the break.

The 22-year-old Holmgren started his 15th game of this season Sunday night in a late nationally televised game at Target Center. The teams then both were scheduled to travel to Oklahoma City to complete the home-and-home set Monday night.

“It’s great to be back home and see a lot of my people that I don’t get to see as often as I’d like,” Holmgren said after shootaround Sunday morning. “I just got to spend more time around everyone. Went out to eat. Hung out. Caught up. It’s cool.”

Holmgren, who had 19 points on 8-for-11 shooting from the field to go with four rebounds and three blocks in Sunday night’s victory, only used half of his All-Star break to actually take a break. The remaining three or four days, he went back to work, saying he didn’t deserve a full All-Star break.

“I didn’t play 50 games, so I didn’t feel like I needed to use all those days for rest,” he said. “There were a lot of things that I could accomplish in those days to make myself better, to try and help our team. That’s what I tried to do.”

Holmgren has played in 15 of OKC’s first 56 games this season — entering Sunday averaging 26.4 minutes and 15.1 points — because of a pelvic injury. He played all 82 games last season after he missed what should have been his rookie season of 2022-23 because of a foot injury.

“I feel really good. I understand I have a long way to go, even if I didn’t get hurt, I’d still have a long way to go. That’s kind of the way I’m approaching it,” Holmgren said. “I’m not thinking about where I was, where I am, where I’m going to be. I’m just focusing on where I am and how I can be better and more confident each and every day.”

The Thunder were the West’s No. 1 seed in the NBA playoffs last season, but they lost to eventual conference champion Dallas in six games in the second round.

“Every single day, we’re getting farther away from being kids,” Holmgren said. “Not only as basketball players, but also as young men, you know? We’re growing up, and we’re having a lot of progress every day.”

The Wolves beat the Thunder 116-101 in that game just before the break. First-place Oklahoma City improved to 46-10 with Sunday’s win and leads second-place Memphis and Denver atop the Western Conference by 9½ games.

“I remember that [first] game didn’t go on the right side of the column for us, so we’ve got to change that,” Holmgren said before Sunday’s contest.

The Thunder are clearly the best in the West, built around their youth, including MVP candidate Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Holmgren, among others.

Acquired last summer in a trade, veteran guard Alex Caruso brought his NBA championship ring — won with the Los Angeles Lakers in 2020 — into the locker room one day this season, just to show everyone what they’re playing for.

“It was a heavy ring, and it was shiny,” Holmgren said. “But it had the wrong logo on it. Who doesn’t want one of those in their showcase at home? None of us had a championship last year under out belt. So none of us knew what it truly is like, what it takes. But he does. He’s helping us understand what we have to do if that’s something we truly aspire to do.”