Victor Wembanyama put up 41 points, 24 rebounds, and 3 blocks in 49 minutes as the San Antonio Spurs beat the Oklahoma City Thunder 122-115 in double overtime in Game 1 of the Western Conference Finals.
Kendrick Perkins, former NBA champion turned ESPN analyst, watched all of it and came away with a message that wasn’t subtle: Chet Holmgren needs to get mad, and he needs to get mad now.
Kendrick Perkins Calls Out Chet Holmgren After Game 1 Performance vs. San Antonio
Holmgren finished the night with 8 points, 8 rebounds, and 2 blocks, and Perkins didn’t dance around what he saw. “Can he try? That’s the first thing. Can he try?” he said on SportsCenter following the game.
“Because I saw him ducking smoke tonight. I saw him guarding other people on the perimeter. I didn’t see too much of him in one-on-one action guarding Wemby, and he knows that beef has been around since their high school days.”
Perkins had a direct message for the Thunder big man. “He’s got to take this personally because Wemby is not going to stop,” Perkins said. “Chet, if you’re watching this, if his family is watching this, Victor Wembanyama doesn’t like you. You need to have the same feelings for him.”
That history stretches back to the 2021 U19 World Cup final, where Holmgren’s United States squad edged Wembanyama’s France 83-81, with Holmgren earning tournament MVP honors.
Whether Wembanyama has carried that with him is debatable, though his public comments over the years have done little to discourage the theory.
In December, he said of the perceived rivalry, “No, I don’t think about that. At least from a basketball standpoint, there’s no comparison between us.”
Holmgren has stayed more measured, crediting Wembanyama’s unique skill set while keeping the rhetoric civil.
But civility doesn’t win playoff series, and Perkins’ point was pretty simple: Holmgren is capable of far more than what Game 1 showed, and the Thunder need him to find another gear.
During the playoffs, Holmgren averaged 18.6 points, 9.1 rebounds, 1.8 blocks, and 1.4 steals on 60% shooting across 8 games.
8 points against Wembanyama isn’t that guy. Holmgren did come up with a key block on Wembanyama at the end of regulation to force overtime, so it’s not like he disappeared entirely.
But it just wasn’t nearly enough. Wembanyama’s 49 minutes were the most he’s ever played in a game, and he got better as the night went on.
The Spurs also won this game without De’Aaron Fox, which speaks to how deep San Antonio runs right now. Dylan Harper, a rookie, was steady when the moments got big.
Stephon Castle had 11 turnovers, and the Spurs still won. That’s a problem for OKC, and the Holmgren-Wembanyama matchup sits right at the center of it.
