First-year rookie Chet Holmgren of the Oklahoma City Thunder will not play in the 2022-23 NBA season after suffering a Lisfranc injury to his right foot, the team announced on Thursday.

"Certainly, we are disappointed for Chet, especially given the excitement he had about getting on the floor with his teammates this season," Thunder General Manager Sam Presti said in a statement. "We know Chet has a long career ahead of him within our organization and the Oklahoma City community. One of the things that most impressed us during the process of selecting Chet was his determination and focus. We expect that same tenacity will carry him through this period of time as we work together and support him during his rehabilitation."

Holmgren suffered the injury when he was defending LeBron James during a fast break possession in a CrawsOver Pro-Am game earlier this month. That game ended early because of condensation on the court.

As the second-overall selection in the 2022 NBA Draft, Holmgren has a remarkable static talent of 2.13-meter-height and 2.19-meter-lomng wingspan. He is an elite blocker and an efficient finisher under the paint. However, as a seven-footer, he is under 90 kilograms, too thin to match the monsters in the paint.

Presti revealed that Holmgren already resumed weight training and shooting exercises without applying pressure to his foot. The team already consulted three top foot specialists in the U.S. and decided for the 20-year-old to undergo foot surgery.

"He's going to get better just by getting stronger, just by seeing things differently, just by learning the NBA," Presti said. "All that's going to be happening. He's going to be able to shoot. He's going to be able to do a lot of things with the ball."

There were multiple top-three-selected rookies missing their first (two) NBA seasons due to injuries: Greg Oden (No. 1) in 2007, Blake Griffin (No. 1) in 2009, Joel Embiid (No. 3) in 2014 and Ben Simmons (No. 1) in 2016. Three of the above three grew to become star players in the following years.

Presti remained positive on Holmgren's prospects: "I don't think missing the first year is really going to change the outcome."