NBA champion Chet Holmgren returns home for youth camp at Minnehaha Academy

Not even 10 days after earning his first NBA championship with the Oklahoma City Thunder, Chet Holmgren was back at Minnehaha Academy playing one-on-one.

Sizing up his defender on the perimeter, he dribbled between his legs and behind his back — twice each. These are the same handles he honed here, where his Grassroots Sizzle AAU coaches forced the gangly teenager to train with guards. But flashy footwork wasn’t enough for Holmgren on Tuesday. His defender, though only 10 years old and barely waist-high, stayed tight on him.

Not for long. Holmgren bounced the ball high over the child’s head, caught it in stride with one hand, and threw down a thunderous dunk. His defender, camper Beckham Evans, could only smile.

“I got posterized,” Evans told his fellow campers proudly.

This week, Holmgren returned home to host his first ProCamps youth basketball clinic in Minnesota. One hundred twenty-five young athletes ranging from first to eighth grade, packed into the Minnehaha gym, eager to run drills, compete in games and, most of all, meet their hometown NBA champion.

Even while organized games went on, many young campers managed to escape their counselors’ watchful eye to chat with Holmgren.

“Six of them will, like, bombard me with a question — all at the same time," Holmgren said. “It’s kind of hard to keep up.”

Still just 23, Holmgren carries himself with a thoughtful maturity that belies his age.

On Tuesday, he took time to reflect on his whirlwind nine-month season that began with a pelvic fracture in November — which left him bedridden — and ended in the ultimate high: an NBA title.

“It’s something that you can carry with you forever,” he said. “No matter what, you can always say you’re a champion. It’s not the end goal. There’s still a lot more to do. One time isn’t, you know, the conclusion of a career.”

Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault, who was in the gym Tuesday to support Holmgren, agreed.

“He’s still not even scraping his prime,” Daigneault said. “He’s about as far away from his potential as anybody on our team. He’s got unbelievable runway as a player.”

That much has been clear for years to his coaches and teammates, many of whom were there on Tuesday.

Former Minnehaha Academy teammates Sam Gonzalez and JaVonni Bickham helped run drills and stations. Former coach Chandler Sentell had his phone out, capturing the moment as his 7-year-old son, Cyrie, got in on the action.

Holmgren’s varsity coach at Minnehaha, Lance Johnson, smiled from the sidelines. He couldn’t have imagined Holmgren would become an NBA champion quite this fast.

“As a coach, you wish the best for your kids, but you never could imagine having an NBA star [and] champion. I could imagine this though,” Johnson said, gesturing to his surroundings. “I could imagine Chet giving back to the community like this.”

That consistency — both in attitude and ambition — has defined Holmgren.

Sentell recalled a text from Holmgren when he was about 15 or 16 years old, listing out his career goals: NBA champion, Hall of Famer.

“You can see him checking these things off in real time,” Sentell said. “It’s pretty crazy.”

Holmgren said that, by returning to where it all started, he hopes he can inspire local athletes to dream big like he did.

“I would love to see in 10 years, a bunch of these kids end up in NBA,” he said. “Not trying to put that expectation on them. I just want them to have fun, enjoy it and hopefully it changes their lives in a positive way.”