The Thunder don’t have to wait long for a shot at payback.
Oklahoma City opens the 2026-27 season on October 20 in San Antonio, and the matchup comes with plenty of edge built in. The Spurs were the Thunder’s final opponent last season, and after a seven-game playoff series plus five regular-season meetings before that, the two teams are starting to look a lot like something bigger than a standard Western Conference clash.
Cason Wallace didn’t exactly try to cool that off. On a recent appearance on Cousins with Vice Carter & Tracy McGrady, he called the matchup “absolutely” a rivalry and said, “I feel like they've got the best of us” over the past year.
That wasn’t just talk. San Antonio went 8-4 against Oklahoma City across 12 meetings and finished with a plus-52 point differential.
Wallace said the Thunder are already leaning into the rematch angle. “Our competitive spirit is like, yo, we got to beat them,” he said.
If Oklahoma City is looking for one player with the most to prove in that opener, Chet Holmgren jumps to the front of the line.
Holmgren just put together the best season of his career, averaging 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks while shooting 55.7 percent from the field and 36.2 percent from three. That earned him All-Star, All-NBA and All-Defensive recognition. But all of that got shoved into the background by what happened in the Spurs series.
Across those seven games, Holmgren never found his footing. He finished at 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks per game while shooting 27.3 percent from deep. The low point came in Game 7, when he scored four points on two shot attempts as Oklahoma City needed somebody besides Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to carry the offense.
The performance drew plenty of criticism, including from Stephen A. Smith, who said it was “automatic grounds for a trade,” and added that “they should have traded for Giannis just because of what happened with Chet Holmgren.”
Now the Thunder get their first chance to answer all of that on opening night. The stage is set in San Antonio, and the temperature should be high from the jump.
In Other News...
Chet Holmgren Just Put Oklahoma Citys Future Core In Focus
Victor Wembanyamas Western Conference Finals performance put a sharper spotlight on one of Oklahoma Citys biggest questions heading into the summer. Across the seven-game series, the Spurs star piled up 22.4 points, 11.8 rebounds and 3.4 blocks a night, and the matchup exposed just how much the Thunder still have to solve when Chet Holmgren is asked to handle elite size and skill in the paint.
Holmgrens rough finish, capped by a 4-point Game 7 on 1-of-7 shooting, only added to the unease around a roster that has to balance high-end talent with a tightening financial picture. Oklahoma City has built its rise around a promising young core, but as salary cap rules get more restrictive, the pressure on how that core is paid and preserved is only going to grow. [Read more 🡒]
Russell Westbrook Just Forced Thunder Fans To Revisit His Legacy
Russell Westbrooks place in Thunder history was never really in doubt, but his decision to step away from the game brings the conversation back into sharper focus. For Oklahoma City fans, he remains one of the franchises defining figures, the explosive point guard who won the 2017 MVP and spent years turning nightly box scores into must-see theater.
Westbrook finished as the NBAs all-time leader in triple-doubles with 209, a reminder of just how singular his run was and why his legacy in Oklahoma City still sparks debate and appreciation in equal measure. There had even been outside interest in bringing him back in a mentoring role before he chose to end his playing career, another sign that his influence has stretched well beyond the highlights that made him a Thunder icon. [Read more 🡒]
Jalen Williams Now Carries One Huge Thunder Question
Jalen Williams new deal came with the kind of weight that follows a rising star in Oklahoma City, where every contract decision now has to fit both the roster and the books. After extensions for Williams and Chet Holmgren, the Thunder already started making moves to manage luxury tax costs, a reminder that this young core is no longer just about talent evaluation but about long-term financial planning too.
For Williams, the next step is as much about stability as production. The Thunder need him to keep building on what he has shown while staying on the floor and delivering the kind of consistency that makes a max-level investment feel secure, even as Holmgrens offensive growth remains part of the same larger equation. In a market like this, the front office is not only asking whether the ceiling is high enough, but whether the pieces around it can be preserved long enough to matter. [Read more 🡒]