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Oklahoma City Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault reacted to the poor performance by Chet Holmgren in Game 7 against the San Antonio Spurs.

Holmgren had a bad Game 7 that he would love to forget and never think about again for the rest of his career. The All-NBA big man scored only 4 points in the winner-takes-all finale of the Western Conference Finals, as the Spurs defeated the Thunder 111-103 and advanced to the NBA Finals to take on the New York Knicks. The Spurs are the betting favorites to win it all according to the sportsbooks.

Mark Daigneault Reacts to Chet Holmgren’s Poor Outing in Game 7

Speaking to reporters after the game, coach Daigneault was asked about Holmgren’s poor showing in the team’s pivotal Game 7.

With the Thunder trailing the Spurs late in the game, Daigneault decided to bench Holmgren with their season on the line. However, despite the late-game benching, coach Daigneault defended Holmgren’s play in the post-game media availability.

“Some of that’s on me, some of that’s on the way we approached the game. That’s not all on him. I actually thought he played his minutes pretty well. I thought that run at the second quarter that got us back going and cut into the game, he was a huge part of that in ways that may not be in the box score or visible. We didn’t get outscored by much when he was on the court. So again, I can take some responsibility for that. But I still think he played a big-time game in some areas,” Daigneault said.

Chet Holmgren’s Massive Contract Extension Kicks in Next Season

Last summer, Holmgren signed a five-year max contract extension that will pay him roughly $240 million. As one of the NBA’s top young bigs, signing Holmgren to that max deal was a no-brainer at the time for the Thunder, who had no choice but to do so if they wanted to keep him on the team’s roster.

But after his disastrous performance in Game 7 — despite his coach coming to his defense — there are already plenty of calls for the Thunder to trade him away.

If OKC wants to acquire Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo, then they could use Holmgren’s massive contract as a salary-matching piece and attach him to draft picks to make that deal with the Bucks. Although this contract looks bad this morning after how poorly he played in Game 7, it’s still a deal the Thunder can move if the team wants to dump it somewhere.

It’s hard to win back-to-back NBA Championships, and the Thunder experienced that this year. Despite having the best record in the league during the regular season, they ultimately fell to the Spurs in the WCF. Some of that is due to the Spurs being a wagon, but some of that is because players like Holmgren didn’t step up when needed.

With the Thunder potentially facing second-apron luxury tax issues this offseason, it will be interesting to see what GM Sam Presti decides to do with the team’s roster, with the key question being whether Holmgren will be part of the team next season or somewhere else.