Shai Gilgeous-Alexander set the tone with 32 points, and the Oklahoma City Thunder answered the San Antonio Spurs’ challenge with a 116-104 win to open the season in San Antonio.
It was a familiar matchup between the teams that met in last season’s Western Conference finals, and the game had plenty of edge from the start. Oklahoma City had the better of it for most of the night, leading for all but the first five minutes and leaning on Gilgeous-Alexander when San Antonio tried to make things uncomfortable.
Jared McCain gave the Thunder a major lift too, scoring 20 points while knocking down 6 of 8 shots from 3-point range. When the Spurs chipped away in the second half, Gilgeous-Alexander and McCain combined for 25 points after the break to keep Oklahoma City in control.
Victor Wembanyama struggled throughout the night for San Antonio, finishing with 12 points on 1-for-13 shooting. His lone made field goal came on an alley-oop from De’Aaron Fox as time expired in the third quarter.
Before that, Wembanyama had missed his first 12 attempts, including an alley-oop try that was blocked by 7-foot-3 rookie Aday Mara. It was his fewest field goals since going 2 for 5 against Minnesota on May 10.
The temperature of the rivalry spiked in the second quarter. Three minutes in, Fox was assessed a Flagrant Foul 1 after tossing Chet Holmgren to the floor when the two became tangled in the paint.
That set off a scrum that required Wembanyama and Jaylin Williams to be separated after they pushed each other. Wembanyama, Williams, Jalen Williams and Kenrich Williams each drew technical fouls.
Oklahoma City used the moment to surge. The Thunder went on a 9-0 run after the altercation, with Jalen and Kenrich Williams scoring five of those points, before Harrison Barnes ended it with a 3-pointer. The Thunder kept rolling anyway, ripping off 13 straight points and stretching the lead to 59-33 on a Cason Wallace 3-pointer.
By halftime, Oklahoma City had outscored San Antonio 31-16 in the second quarter and carried a 65-44 lead into the locker room.
San Antonio made a run to open the second half, outscoring the Thunder 23-9 to get back within single digits after trailing by as many as 26. But the Spurs never fully closed the gap, and the Thunder held on to start the season with a win over the team that knocked them out of title defense last spring.
In Other News...
Spurs Just Got Burned By An NBA Problem Fans Hate
The Spurs latest frustrations fit into a debate that has followed the NBA all season: how the game is being officiated, and why certain violations seem to disappear in real time. Fans have been especially vocal about travel calls and the way contact is often interpreted in favor of offensive players, with examples around Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, LaMelo Ball, Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell keeping the conversation alive.
For San Antonio, it is less about one isolated whistle than the bigger picture of how consistently the league applies its own standards. Those complaints do not come with a quick fix, and they rarely fade after one game, which is why this remains such a sore spot for Spurs fans who want the rules enforced the same way every night. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Fans Have Seen This NBA Officiating Problem For Too Long
The familiar gripe around NBA officiating has been bubbling again, and Spurs fans know the complaint well. Recent games have only sharpened the frustration, with viewers pointing to a mix of missed traveling violations and whistles that seem to favor ballhandlers even on minimal contact, the sort of uneven enforcement that has become a recurring talking point across the league.
For San Antonio, the irritation lands in a very specific way because the discussion has recently touched players like Dylan Harper and Devin Vassell, while names such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and LaMelo Ball have also been pulled into the broader debate. The larger issue is bigger than any one possession or one matchup: Spurs followers have seen enough of these inconsistencies to wonder when, or if, the standard will ever feel the same from one game to the next. [Read more 🡒]
Spurs Fans Will Love This Classic Gregg Popovich Lakers Moment
Long before the Spurs were looking for answers under Mitch Johnson, Gregg Popovich was the franchises defining voice, equal parts sharp, funny and impossible to box in. Doris Burke recently revisited one of those classic sideline moments from an early in-game interview, when a question about how San Antonio was handling Shaquille ONeal drew the kind of awkward Popovich reaction that made those exchanges must-watch television.
It is the sort of clip that still lands with Spurs fans because it captures exactly what Popovich meant to the organization across 29 seasons and five NBA titles. Even as San Antonio moves into a new era after opening the 2026-27 campaign with a loss to Oklahoma City, the old Popovich interviews remain part of the franchises identity, and this one fits right into the collection. [Read more 🡒]