Chet Holmgren returns from injury, leads list of Minnesotans in NBA summer league

It didn't take long for Chet Holmgren to give basketball fans a glimpse this week why he was the No. 2 pick in the 2022 NBA draft.

In his first game back since a season-ending foot injury last year, Holmgren rejected a shot by the Utah Jazz with two hands — one of his four blocks in Monday's NBA summer league opener for the Oklahoma City Thunder in Salt Lake City.

The 7-1 defensive force with a smooth perimeter game is the most notable Minnesota native in this year's summer league slate, which features nine Minnesotans.

"It's great to be able to be in an actual game again in 11 months," the Minnehaha Academy product said in Monday's postgame news conference. "I competed with myself just to stay in it. And I feel like I followed everything to a T. This is kind of like the reward for that. It's great to be back out there."

The Salt Lake City summer league ended Thursday with four Minnesotans participating. Breck's David Roddy and John Marshall's Matthew Hurt also played for the Memphis Grizzlies. DeLaSalle's Gabe Kalscheur, who played for the Gophers and Iowa State, ran with the Golden State Warriors.

Both Holmgren and Roddy had impressive openers. Roddy led the Grizzlies with 18 points, including the go-ahead basket in a win vs. Philadelphia on Monday. Holmgren had 15 points and nine rebounds vs. the Jazz on his first night. And he followed that up with 10 points and 11 rebounds in his second game in a loss to the Grizzlies and those fellow Minnesotans on Wednesday. Hurt and Roddy combined for 18 points.

Holmgren scored off the dribble and hit shots from the outside, but he mostly dazzled defensively combining for seven blocks in his first two games.

"I feel like that's a strength of my game, and I try to bring that every night," Holmgren said Monday. "The foot feels great. It's like the injury never happened, other than everything I had to go through."

Holmgren, Roddy and former East Ridge standout Kendall Brown were selected in last year's NBA draft. That gave the state of Minnesota 12 draft picks since 2015. Brown, who is with the Indiana Pacers, also recovered from an injury after he was limited to six games following right tibia surgery last season.

"The biggest challenge was just not being able to play and finish out the season," Brown told Indiana reporters Monday. "I've been getting my rhythm back the last couple months."

Unlike Brown, Holmgren didn't get to experience what it's like being on the court during an NBA game. But Holmgren has played in front of a crowd since he was cleared at the end of the season with the Thunder. That's what made appearing in summer league so important to his comeback attempt.

"You really can't simulate game situations," Holmgren said. "The crowd and how everything works with the flow of the refs, the calls and the timeouts. The quarters. It's very different. You have to be out there to experience that."

No Minnesota natives were picked in the NBA draft this year, which broke a three-year streak. But Kalscheur joined former Armstrong and Indiana forward Race Thompson (New York Knicks) as undrafted college players from Minnesota who were signed to summer league teams this year. However, Thompson won't play in Las Vegas because of a sore right knee.

As for the Gophers having a summer league presence, there are four players who once suited up in maroon and gold on NBA rosters in Las Vegas. Texas' Marcus Carr (Phoenix Suns) and Vanderbilt's Liam Robbins (New Orleans Pelicans) were former Gophers teammates of Kalscheur before they all transferred after the 2020-21 season.

Former Gophers All-America Daniel Oturu, who was drafted in 2020, is again with the Chicago Bulls this summer. Oturu spent the last two years with the Windy City Bulls in the NBA G League.

The Timberwolves, who have former Champlin Park standout Theo John, open Las Vegas summer league play Friday afternoon against the New Orleans Pelicans.