Chet Holmgren urges the NBA to invite a teammate to a 3PT contest
Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren calls out the NBA on behalf of his teammate, Isaiah Joe, and the upcoming 3-point contest on All-Star Weekend. Joe made four 3-pointers in the Thunder’s win against the Cleveland Cavs, which the defending champions played with only 10 active players. For Holmgren, it’s just one of many examples of how deadly and effective Isaiah’s 3-point shooting has been this season.
Although the 2026 contestants have not been announced, Holmgren is still stunned that Joe was not invited to participate in this year’s 3-point competition at NBA All-Star weekend, he said, per The Oklahoman’s Justin Martinez.
“I don’t know how he hasn’t been invited yet,” Holmgren said. “I don’t know how they calculated it. I’m not even going to sit here and speculate, but he deserves to be there in the 3-point contest. I’m sure it’s something he’d love to do, and I’m sure if he’d go in, he’d win. So the league needs to extend that invitation.”
Here’s Chet Holmgren before OKC’s game against Milwaukee pic.twitter.com/AOSKSGEI3Rm
— Justin Martinez (@Justintohoops) January 21, 2026
Averaging 2.3 3-pointers on 5.4 attempts, Isaiah Joe is shooting a career-best 41.8% from deep for the Thunder this season, but he was red-hot from the perimeter last week. Joe is 62.5% on 10-for-16 3-point attempts over the last four games.
Chet Holmgren gets DPOI campaign after Thunder win
Thunder forward Chet Holmgren received flowers from the Cavs coach Kenny Atkinson as the best rim protector in the NBA after Monday’s 136-104 victory. Atkinson shouted his team for making poor offensive decisions while Holmgren roamed the paint.
“We got to the rim 19 times in the first half. We got to the paint. We got to the rim,” Atkinson said. “I’m a little disappointed with how we read the rim, right? They put Chet Holmgren in there. He’s probably the number one rim protector in the league and we didn’t take him out. We have to understand. It was physical and forceful, but I also think it was our read on the play. We didn’t read the game the way the play was right. A troubling decision.”
The Thunder will finish their four-game road trip against the Bucks on Wednesday.
2026-01-21 19:27:00
