The Oklahoma City Thunder head into opening night with a short injury list, while the San Antonio Spurs will be without two key names when the teams tip off at 8:30 p.m. CT in San Antonio, TX.
For OKC, the absences are Otega Oweh, Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic. Oweh, the Thunder’s No. 41 pick in the 2026 NBA Draft, tore his Achilles in overtime of the team’s penultimate preseason game.
Topic, taken No. 12 in the 2024 NBA Draft, has been hampered by a string of setbacks and recently had back surgery, which kept him out of Summer League, preseason and now the start of the regular season. Sorber has also been sidelined after a knee scope, and he still has not made his Thunder debut after missing his rookie season, Summer League and every preseason game.
There is good news for Oklahoma City, though: Chet Holmgren and Jaylin Williams are not on the injury report. Both big men missed all of preseason.
San Antonio’s injury report is also relatively light, but Tobias Harris and rookie Jayden Quaintance are unavailable. Harris was one of the Spurs’ more notable offseason additions after averaging 13.3 points on 47% shooting for the Pistons last season. Quaintance has been dealing with a knee injury for much of the last calendar year.
The matchup arrives with a fresh edge after the Spurs ended OKC’s season in last year’s Western Conference Finals, with Victor Wembanyama playing a major role in Game 7. The Thunder, meanwhile, reshaped their roster over the offseason, moving on from Luguentz Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins in trades and adding young talent in the 2026 NBA Draft.
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Spurs Thunder Tension Boils Over On Opening Night
Opening night got chippy in a hurry for Oklahoma City, with the second quarter turning into a full-tilt confrontation between the Thunder and Spurs. It started when De'Aaron Fox shoved Chet Holmgren to the floor, and what followed drew in multiple players, including Victor Wembanyama and several members of the Williams family on the Thunder side, as the officials worked to separate everyone and restore order.
The sequence left both teams waiting on the whistle before play could settle back in, and the officiating crew wound up sorting through a messy scene with a flagrant foul and a handful of technicals. For a Thunder team trying to set the tone early in the season, the dustup added another layer of edge to a matchup that was already carrying plenty of opening-night energy. [Read more 🡒]
Aday Mara Just Gave Thunder Fans A First Real Reason To Believe
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Midway through the third quarter, with Oklahoma City already in control, Mara helped deliver one of the nights best sequences. He swatted Victor Wembanyama near the rim, then turned around and finished an alley-oop from Ajay Mitchell, a burst of rim protection and finishing touch that gave Thunder fans a real glimpse of why the organization is so intrigued by him. [Read more 🡒]
Chet Holmgren Sparks Early Thunder Spurs Tension On Opening Night
Opening night between the Thunder and Spurs took a sharp turn when Chet Holmgren found himself on the floor after a hard sequence involving DeAaron Fox, and both benches quickly emptied in response. What had been an early-season showcase between two teams with plenty of buzz became a chippy, physical scene in a hurry, with the officials moving in to calm things down before play could continue.
Once order was restored, the game resumed with San Antonio still chasing Oklahoma City in the second quarter. The incident added an edge to a matchup already rich with intrigue, especially with Victor Wembanyama on the floor and the Thunders young core right in the middle of the fray, a reminder that this rivalry may not need much time to boil over again. [Read more 🡒]