Mitch Johnson didn’t dance around the reality of San Antonio’s opener.
After the Spurs dropped a 116-104 decision to the Oklahoma City Thunder on Tuesday night at Frost Bank Center, the first question was about the three-guard look he used to begin the game. Johnson started De’Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper alongside Devin Vassell and Victor Wembanyama, and he made clear he liked the idea of getting his best five on the floor to open.
The result, though, was rough. “However many guards we played, they all struggled tonight,” Johnson said. “It was a pretty well-rounded poor effort by all of us.”
Castle did his part statistically, finishing with 24 points and seven rebounds. Harper added 18 points, seven rebounds and five assists, while Fox posted 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists. Still, San Antonio was buried by halftime, down 21, and never fully erased the damage.
Wembanyama had an especially difficult night. He went 1-of-13 from the field, missed all of his shots in the first half and ended with 12 points, 13 rebounds and six blocks.
The game also got chippy in the second quarter when Fox shoved Chet Holmgren to the floor, setting off a scuffle that resulted in a flagrant foul on Fox and technical fouls on Wembanyama and several others.
Oklahoma City had the headliner in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who led the way with 32 points. Jared McCain gave the Thunder a major boost off the bench with 20 points and six made threes. San Antonio managed to get the margin back into single digits in the third quarter, but the Thunder answered in the fourth and pulled away again.
It was a jarring start for a Spurs team that beat the Thunder in seven games in last season’s conference finals before losing to the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals.
San Antonio’s next chance to clean it up comes Friday, when it hosts the Houston Rockets at Moody Center in Austin.
In Other News...
Spurs Are Building Something In Austin Fans Can't Ignore
The Spurs have been making a very visible push up the road in Austin, and it has gone well beyond the usual outreach pitch. Through community engagement and growing ties with the University of Texas athletics department, the organization has steadily built a presence that feels deliberate, not accidental, with the Longhorns basketball program becoming a prominent part of that relationship. The connection has been strengthened by upcoming games and mutual support, giving San Antonio a foothold in a market that has plenty of basketball interest of its own.
Kevin Durants link to Texas only adds to the intrigue around that presence. The former Longhorn, now with the Houston Rockets, still has strong ties to the program and is expected to get a warm reception when he plays in Austin, a reminder of how much the city values its basketball roots. For the Spurs, the bigger picture is just as important, because their growing visibility there suggests they are trying to make Austin feel less like a neighbor and more like part of their basketball footprint. [Read more 🡒]
Wembanyama's New Deal Changes The Spurs' Castle And Harper Timeline
Victor Wembanyamas new five-year maximum rookie extension gives the Spurs a major financial anchor while also creating some breathing room around the rest of the roster. By reportedly coming in below the supermax, the deal is not just a headline number for San Antonios franchise centerpiece, it also changes the way the team can plan around him, especially as it tries to keep young talent together.
That flexibility matters because the Spurs are already thinking about the next layer of their core, with Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper both part of the broader roster-construction picture. A contract of this size for Wembanyama would normally tighten the screws elsewhere, but in this case it opens the door for San Antonio to explore market-value extensions and build with more options as those decisions come due. [Read more 🡒]
Tim Duncans Final Spurs Years Look Even Rarer Right Now
Tim Duncans late-career run with the Spurs is looking even more unusual in the context of modern NBA aging curves. While other stars like Kevin Garnett, Dirk Nowitzki, Dwyane Wade and Kobe Bryant spent their final years on teams that had clearly slipped out of true contention, Duncan kept San Antonio winning at a high clip and in the playoff picture right through the back end of his career.
That contrast feels especially sharp as Stephen Curry and the Warriors navigate an uneven start to this season. Curry has not suggested retirement, and Golden State still has plenty of time to turn things around, but the broader point is hard to miss: Duncans ability to stay attached to a consistently strong team deep into his career remains a rare standard for the league. [Read more 🡒]