The Oklahoma City Thunder announced that Chet Holmgren, number two in the 2022 draft, will miss the entire season with an ankle ligament injury. But he’s not the first rookie to miss his first year.
The Oklahoma City Thunder have confirmed that they will be without Chet Holmgren for the entire 2022-23 season. This will be the debut for the player who was selected number 2 in the last draft and is considered a rookie Unicorn of the NBA. But this isn’t the first time a top pick has missed his debut season..
Joel Embiid
The Cameroonian player is currently the leading scorer in the NBA. He was selected 3rd overall in the 2014 draft by the Philadelphia 76ers, behind Andrew Wiggins and Jabari Parker, he came from the University of Kansas. The pivot, recently nationalized French, he missed the first two seasons with the same injury. Before starting the 2014-15 NBA season, he suffered a stress fracture of the navicular bone; a similar foot injury led to the Chinese center’s retirement Yao Ming. Thirteen months later, the franchise announced it had to intervene again a setback to the same injury and will spend his second season in white. On October 26, 2016, he made his debut in an official NBA game, starting against the Oklahoma City Thunder in the first game of the regular season.
Now he is one of the best players in the NBA and will begin his seventh season with the Sixers.
Photo: Michael Reaves/Getty Images
Ben Simmons
The Australian was selected as the No. 1 in the 2016 draft, also by the Philadelphia 76ers. The first days of October of the same year announced the fracture of the fifth metatarsal of the foot and it will take three months for him to recover. But the rehabilitation time was extended and the player missed his entire first season.
His debut was on October 18, 2017 against Washington Wizards contributed 18 points, 10 rebounds and 5 assists. He was chosen rookie of the year.
Photo: Elsa/Getty Images
Blake Griffin
The American power forward was selected by the LA Clippers as the No. 1 in the 2009 draftis from the University of Oklahoma.
Griffin missed the entire 2009-10 season for a serious knee injury in the final preseason game. There is speculation that it may be a stress fracture and that he will be out for several months. But after that time he was subjected to new studies and they discovered that, not only did he improve, he regressed with respect to his condition, so he had to undergo surgery and missed the entire season.
He debuted on October 27, 2010 and less than a month later broke the scoring record for a rookie, scoring 44 points against the New York Knicks.
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Source: Tycsports
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