“We’re out there competing, but beef?” This was OKC Thunder‘s sophomore star Chet Holmgren’s reaction to the ‘Wemby vs Chet rivalry’ a few weeks before the fresh season. Does he have the same reaction now? We don’t think so! The 7 ‘1 big man demolished the reigning ROTY winner, Victor Wembanyama, in their latest regular season clash. Moreover, it wasn’t just Holmgren who destroyed him but a former Thunder player also joined the party, pointing out key flaws in the French man’s much-celebrated playing style.

Apart from preserving the purity of the game, there’s a need to make it entertaining for millions of fans across the globe. And one of the ways to keep fans hooked to their screens is the exciting narratives. Growing out in the same approach, the media widely pushed the Chet vs Wemby narrative. There isn’t any past beef with the two young big men and the major reason behind this opinionated bandwagon could be that both players are above 7 feet and played their rookie season in the same year.

It’s safe to say that Victor Wembanyama won the first round of rivalry after winning the Rookie of the Year Award over his OKC rival, who finished second in the race. However, the tide seemed to have shifted in favor of the Thunder big man. After already winning two games in the three outings last season, Chet Holmgren won another game this season. Not only that, the hooper put up an impressive 19-point performance, meanwhile Wemby produced a career-low 6 points!

It was enough for NBA legend Eddie Johnson to get all over Wemby, as he compared him with Holmgren. Featuring on SiriusXM Radio, he said, “Look, eventually Wembanyama is going to be better than Chet. You and I believe that. He (Wemby) is soft as Charmin. He is soft. He is soft defensively, and he is soft offensively… He is soft. Chet is tough. Chet is tough!” 

The former Thunder player further went on to point out the flaws. Johnson strongly believes that the Frenchman’s game and his priorities are all going in the wrong direction. He dropped a crucial piece of advice for the youngster and his future.

Eddie Johnson’s advice to Victor Wembanyama: “Get your b*** in the…”

Before delivering the advice, Eddie Johnson pointed out the flaw. According to him, Wembanyama isn’t using his height effectively and accused him of showing off that he has a crossover in his game. Johnson said, “He wanna be a damn guard. He chucking up threes all the damn time. He wants to show everybody that he got a crossover. Dude, you’re the tallest dude in the league.” 

Here comes the advice. Johnson added, “Get your b–t in the paint. Like, be ferocious. Try to dunk on some people so they’ll back up. Next time, they won’t stick their hand up there.” However, on one hand, many praise Wemby for bringing up shooting in a big man’s game and here Johnson has a problem with that. Well, there’s no right or wrong answer in it, as long as he wins games for his side.

However, Johnson may have gotten way ahead with his statement. He accused Wemby of protecting the rim like a big man is supposed to do. Contrarily, the number says something else. In the last season, the French recorded an impressive 3.6 blocks and 10.6 rebounds per game, that almost made his case for the DPOY award. It’s safe to say that Wemby has been managing his roles as a rim protector and as a guard efficiently.

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Meanwhile, what does Chet Holmgren think about the rivalry now? Well, he has dismissed it yet again. When asked about playing against Wemby after the latest game, Holmgren dismissed the bait and said, “The NBA is a business, and the league has been built around players playing basketball obviously… I just see it as a form of advertisement, and it doesn’t kind of change what our mission is going out there every single night.” 

So, there is no rivalry, just healthy competition. What do you make of it? Let us know in the comments.