Perhaps one of the most fabricated rivalries of last season was that between Rookie of the Year Victor Wembanyama and runner-up Chet Holmgren. Both are long, lanky, dynamic players who will likely rule the big-man landscape for years to come. Each Spurs-Thunder meeting was widely anticipated, bringing in a large number of people eager to witness the two young unicorns, but as intense as those bouts were, it appeared that fans and the media wanted to add to the burgeoning on-court rivalry by stating there was a “beef” between the two players.

Now, Holmgren is correcting the record. On Paul George’s podcast, he was asked where the energy and passion came from when they competed against each other. While Holmgren stated that the two had battled each other on the world stage before joining the NBA and that they are both competitors, he barely knows Wemby in person and regards a “beef” as between people who have genuine issues with each other and are searching for a fight. That is not the case between Holmgren and Wemby (yet).

He also covered other topics, such as the Rookie of the Year competition, while refuting critics who claim he was not a rookie (he missed the entire 2022-23 season due to a leg injury), stating that if you play in your first NBA game, you are a rookie. Even yet, he believed Wemby was deserving (so no beef). He also stated that the most important thing he learnt from playing against Wemby was to understand that confronting someone who is 7’5″ is different than facing someone who is 6’9″, therefore you must make the necessary changes.

You can view the complete interview below. His segment on Wemby begins at 29:00, with the meat portion starting at 32:06.

Even if there is no “beef” between Holmgren and Wembanyama, this does not preclude a strong competition in the future, and not just between the two. Although the Spurs are a year or two behind the Thunder in their rebuild, they are expected to compete for championships in the future. This rekindles a brief but intense rivalry from the 2010s, when the Kevin Durant/Russell Westbrook Thunder battled the The Big Three plus Kawhi Leonard three times. In 2014, the Spurs won a nailbiter game 6 to advance to the Finals and win their latest championship.

With the Thunder’s core of Holmgren, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, and Jalen Williams likely set, a Spurs core centred around Wemby, Devin Vassell, and another player yet to be named or discovered hopes to join them at the top of the Western Conference standings soon. When that day arrives, the Spurs-Thunder rivalry will resume.