Chet Holmgren tied his career high amid an impressive shooting performance against the Hawks

Oklahoma City Thunder All-Star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 30+ points for the third consecutive game of the young NBA season 2025-26, doc Chet Holmgren tied his career high in three-pointers in a 117-100 win against the Atlanta Hawks. The Thunder improved to 3-0.

Holmgren finished with 31 points on 8-of-12 shooting, including six three-pointers, his career high for most three-pointers in a game. He also went 9-for-10 from the free throw line and added 11 rebounds, three steals and one block. Holmgren addressed his impressive shooting show against the Hawks in his postgame media availability.

“When you see the ball go in a few times, you definitely play a lot more relaxed and you definitely look for the next opportunity to shoot,” Holmgren said. “But I’m not a big believer in warmup checks in terms of a bad shot because you hit par. I’m still looking for the right play, looking for good shots, and throughout the game I felt like I did a good job of believing that, and after the first couple went in, I was able to find more.”

Chet Holmgren is off to an impressive start to the season, making his presence felt on both ends of the floor, including his six 3-pointers against the Hawks amid the Thunder’s perfect 3-0 start as the defending champions. Holmgren is averaging 24.7 points on 56.1% shooting, including 42.1% from deep, 10.0 rebounds and 1.7 steals in three games.

This is the kind of production many expected from Holmgren heading into the regular season, leading some to predict the 2022 second overall pick is on pace to earn his first All-Star selection after playing in just 32 regular season games in 2024-25.

ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins on the Thunder’s Chet Holmgren start

Performance in the Thunder’s home opener from Chet Holmgren made a big impression on ESPN’s Kendrick Perkins. So much so that the 2008 NBA champion says Holmgren belongs to the same level such as Bucks All-Star Giannis Antetokounmpo, Nuggets All-Star Nikola Jokic and Rockets All-Star Alperen Sengun, Perkins said, according to ESPN’s NBA Today.

“Sengun, Giannis, Jokic, and rightly so, but suddenly Chet Holmgren was forgotten. And then last night in that first half he reminded us how he went to work,” said Perkins. “He was deep in his bag like he had fries at the bottom. Inside/out. And when you talk about how unique he is in terms of his skill set, that’s why they’re able to mix it up.”

Holmgren and the Thunder will finish their three-game road trip against the Mavericks on Monday.