Larry Suggs, the father of NBA guard Jalen Suggs, remembers a man coming up to him during an AAU basketball practice for middle schoolers and asking him a peculiar question.
“Hey,” the man said, “where’s that awkward white kid that you always had on your basketball team?”
Suggs was confused.
“The kid that was not very good,” the man clarified.
Suggs pointed at one of the only white players in the gym.
“No, not that kid,” the man responded. “That kid over there is pretty good.”
“No, that’s Chet,” Suggs said. “It’s the same kid. He just grew taller, and now he can knock down 3s.”
The man was stunned.
Years later, Chet Holmgren — that “awkward white kid” from Minneapolis who just turned 23 years old this month — is now the second- or third-best player on an Oklahoma City team heavily favored to win the NBA title, with a chance to secure a Finals trip by beating his hometown Timberwolves.
Quite a leap for a guy that current Orlando Magic guard Jalen Suggs once said came from “the bottom of the bottom.”
“He didn’t even know what basketball was,” Jalen joked.
Much less how to play it.
“I always tell people, ‘He was the worst kid in your classroom at basketball,’ ” Larry said.
Be like KD
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren reacts after a play against the Minnesota Timberwolves during the second half of Game 2 of an NBA basketball Western Conference Finals playoff series Thursday, May 22, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
So, how did Holmgren end up on a youth team with future NBA guards like Jalen Suggs and Tyrell Terry, and a slew of other future Division I athletes?
Larry knew Chet’s father, Dave Holmgren, played for the Gophers. He appreciated Chet’s willingness to listen and learn in their early conversations and, truthfully, Suggs believed in his own abilities to teach the game. Holmgren was an intriguing piece of clay he was eager to mold.
But it was a process. Suggs’ team always played four-plus years above its age group. That was no issue for many of the players, but it made life difficult for Chet, who at this point was the same height as everyone else but still in the process of learning the game.
“A lot of people would come and say, ‘Hey, I just think you should cut him, because he’s slowing everybody down,’ ” Larry recalled. “But they didn’t know his progression.”
Only Suggs did. He set benchmarks he wanted Holmgren to reach by certain points, and the student was hitting them all, progressing even a little ahead of Suggs’ schedule. While having a great idea of how tall Holmgren may eventually become given his dad’s height, Suggs had Holmgren play guard.
Holmgren and Kerwin Walton, who just finished his senior season at Texas Tech, were each tasked with getting up 250 jumpers before every practice in an effort to improve their shots and make them legitimately helpful to the players around them.
Suggs only settled for proper form. Learning how to shoot correctly and efficiently required reps. Suggs believed if he could teach Holmgren the same things he taught Terry and his own son, the possibilities were endless for the future 7-footer.
Even as he began to grow, Suggs had Holmgren running off flare screens and firing up 3-pointers.
“I said, ‘I think I can make you like KD,’ ” Suggs said, in reference to Kevin Durant.
All grown up
For years, many of the boys on Suggs’ AAU team were roughly the same size, right around or just above 6 feet, Holmgren included. But Suggs remembers a period of about a month in which Holmgren shot up 4-plus inches. It was part of a year in which Holmgren said he grew 8 inches in total.
Everything changed. Suggs noted the newfound “big man” had dibs on shotgun during travel to games. No longer could Holmgren share a bed with teammates in hotels, because he had to sleep diagonally to fit in them.
Holmgren had to take intermittent breaks from the sport because of growing pains. When he’d return to action, adaptations were made that included no bending down to touch the line on sprint drills and more bike work. Holmgren did physical therapy to adjust his movements and solve strength issues. Eventually, his body caught up to his bones.
“I kept working on it and some athleticism came,” Holmgren said in 2020. “Then it kind of just complemented the skill really well.”
‘He’s tough’
Holmgren is not an exact replica of Kevin Durant, by any means. While he shot 38% from deep this season, his offensive skillset isn’t quite as smooth or deep — though his capabilities are incredibly impressive for someone his size.
What makes Holmgren so special is the combination of the offensive skills he does have and the defensive force he imposes. Holmgren is one of the game’s elite shot blockers; he swatted 2.2 shots per game this season, while altering countless others.
Holmgren patrols the paint like few can, even while still being far more slender than most other NBA players at his position. Holmgren is listed at 7-foot-1 … and just 208 pounds.
You may be able to overpower Holmgren on occasion. But bully him? Not a chance.
In Game 2 on Thursday, Holmgren threw down a dunk, then shouted in the face of Wolves guard Donte DiVincenzo, which incited a technical foul. Watching at home from his couch, Suggs immediately started laughing.
“That a boy,” he said.
“He just has that raw emotion like that. He’s just always been like that. I’ve never told him to hold it back,” Suggs said. “I said, ‘You have to show your emotions, because I don’t want anybody to ever take advantage of you. And anything down around this basket is yours.’ ”
And no opponent could take it from Holmgren, no matter what their strength or mass advantages may be. The credit for that, Suggs said, belongs solely to the player. Holmgren first walked into the gym with the same mentality he possesses today.
“Pain didn’t really phase him,” Suggs said. “And being in a different, stressful environment didn’t (either).”
Suggs noted Holmgren was always running around the Minneapolis with “a whole bunch of minorities,” kidding around and playing basketball. Holmgren and Spring Lake Park’s Cole Ewald were often the only white kids in the gym.
“They adapted very early to the physicality and to the different social and economic situations that a lot of us were in growing up in in the inner city,” Suggs said.
When Holmgren was in high school, a college coach called Suggs to ask if the big man was tough. Suggs’ response was, “He hangs out with a whole bunch of brothers in the inner city. What do you think?”
“Alright, I gotcha,” the coach said. “He’s tough.”
A new standard
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) shoots against Minnesota Timberwolves center Naz Reid (11) during the first half of Game 1 of an NBA basketball Western Conference Finals playoff series Tuesday, May 20, 2025, in Oklahoma City. (AP Photo/Nate Billings)
Holmgren has brought Suggs’ vision for the forward to life, and put it on display for all to witness on the game’s biggest stages.
When Holmgren was young, Suggs told the player the heights he believed he could reach: To be the best American-born white player since Larry Bird. At first, that seems like a bar too high to realistically hit.
But consider today’s NBA, where Holmgren is contending with the likes of guard Tyler Herro and Austin Reaves for that distinction (Cooper Flagg won’t join this discussion until he’s selected No. 1 overall in next month’s NBA Draft). And, if you were a franchise aiming to contend for a title, Holmgren would be your top choice of those three players.
“On U.S. soil, who’s the baddest white boy in the NBA?” Suggs asked. “It’s Chet Holmgren. He walks it, he talks it, he backs it up, he’s got the swagger, he’s funny. He’s got all the metrics.”
“And,” Suggs added, “he’s got a great chance to win the championship.”
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