Feb. 12, 2026, 10:44 p.m. CT
OKLAHOMA CITY — As Aaron Wiggins tried to go for the closeout, Ousmane Dieng didn’t need much time to let off a shot attempt. A no-dip 3-pointer swished in as he enjoyed serving a slice of revenge pie to OKC just a little over a week after he was traded.
The Oklahoma City Thunder limped into the NBA All-Star break with a 110-93 loss to the Milwaukee Bucks. With both MVP winners sidelined due to injuries, the former couldn’t come up with enough undermanned willpower to get one more win without Shai Gilgeous-Alexander.
It was pretty ugly from the start. Continuing to maneuver injuries, the Thunder were without Jalen Williams and Isaiah Hartenstein. That suddenly makes the task of overcoming Gilgeous-Alexander’s absence from difficult to impossible.
The Thunder fell behind 30-25 after the first quarter. Not the bad of a deficit, but the Bucks being able to get to the rim without any resistance was a little troubling. Pausing the usual game storytelling, let’s also acknowledge that Nikola Topic made his NBA debut in the opening frame.
As soon as he was on the scorer’s table, the OKC crowd prepared itself. He checked in to a loud applause. Acknowledging the ovation with a hand gesture, the 20-year-old had one of the coolest moments of the NBA season as he suited up just three months after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Need a news break? Check out the all new PLAY hub with puzzles, games and more!
Such a cool moment that goes beyond this game. Back to it — the Thunder eventually made a run to knot things up at 40 apiece. Wiggins found Alex Caruso for the outside jumper. Alas, that momentum was short-lived. The Bucks responded with a 14-2 run to retake a commanding lead.
To make matters worse, Dieng caught fire. On the cut to the basket, Lu Dort failed to bump him out of his spot. The new Bucks player received some shooting luck as his turnaround jumper bounced in. That put the Thunder in a 64-46 deficit with a little under three minutes left in the first half. Yikes.
The Thunder were on the wrong side of a 21-4 run that turned this from an intriguing contest into a lopsided scoreboard. They only had 30 points in the second quarter and entered halftime in a 67-55 deficit. A little bit of a blessing, if we’re being blunt.
Out of the break, the Thunder returned to playing some sense of normalcy with their defense. The Bucks’ hot shooting eventually cooled off. The only problem was that OKC couldn’t take advantage on the other end. That was expected considering who was out. But didn’t make it any less painful to see opportunities slip through its fingers.
Dort converted a physical layup to make it a single-digit contest, but that’s all the Thunder could do. They only had a lowly 18 points in the third frame. Flat-out bad at the NBA level. They were in an 89-73 deficit after three quarters. Nothing from that point in the game suggested anything could change.
Less than two minutes into the final frame, the Thunder saw their deficit balloon past 20 points. Pete Nance knocked down an outside jumper to make it a 95-73 game. OKC called a timeout, but it was to no avail. It tried to see if Brooks Barnhizer could provide a spark, but nope.
Trailing by as many as 24 points, the Thunder pulled the plug with a little under five minutes to go. They only had 20 points in the fourth quarter. What a whimper to enter the All-Star break as the San Antonio Spurs are right behind them in the standings with the final one-third of the regular season left.
The Thunder shot 37% from the field and went 15-of-45 (33.3%) from 3. They shot 16-of-20 on free throws. They had 22 assists on 31 baskets. Three Thunder players scored double-digit points.
Chet Holmgren had 16 points and 13 rebounds. Isaiah Joe had 17 points and four rebounds. Jared McCain tallied 13 points and three rebounds.
Meanwhile, the Bucks shot 46% from the field and went 17-of-42 (40.5%) from 3. They shot 5-of-7 on free throws. They had 25 assists on 44 baskets. Seven Bucks players scored double-digit points.
Dieng finished with 19 points, 11 rebounds and six assists. AJ Green had 17 points and three assists. Bobby Portis tallied 15 points and 12 rebounds. Kyle Kuzma had 14 points and four rebounds. Kevin Porter Jr. finished with 12 points and seven assists. Cam Thomas scored 12 points. Nance helped with 11 points and seven rebounds.
Well, this was ugly. Say what you want to say about the Thunder’s absence, but that was pretty inexcusable. Felt like the entire team was mentally already at All-Star break. The juxtaposition between this game and what they did with an eight-player group last week at San Antonio really reeks. Especially against a depleted Bucks squad whose season has gone off the rails.
That said, it’s impossible to have any big-picture thoughts from this stinker. If the Thunder are without Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Hartenstein, they’re cooked. Simple as that. You just gotta wash away the taste of this bad loss with that in mind. That said, totally valid if you’re upset with the Laissez-faire approach they had in a game they felt like was in the bag as soon as they suited up.
Let’s look at Thunder player grades:
Chet Holmgren: C-minus
Crossing over Kuzma, Holmgren put his shoulders down and drove to the basket. As soon as he saw an opening, he flew off the floor for the one-handed dunk as the first half ended. That woke up an OKC crowd that was a few possessions away from falling asleep.
Alas, that turned out to be his last bucket. Holmgren finished with 16 points on 5-of-12 shooting, 13 rebounds and four assists. He shot 0-of-4 from 3 and went 6-of-6 on free throws. He also had two blocks.
Just not enough from Holmgren. As the sole NBA All-Star player on the floor, he faded too much into the background. Considering everybody who was out, these are the type of games where you wish he amped up his scoring aggressiveness. But it just feels like it’s not in his basketball DNA to scale up when needed.
When Holmgren roamed around the paint, the seven-footer had an efficient night at play-finishing — which is pretty impressive considering all of the table-setters were out. He caught an alley-oop and had a few dunks and layups as he played within the flow of the offense.
How much that bothers you is up for interpretation. If you expect Holmgren to become this dynamic go-to scorer who can get you a bucket, that’s based on hope and not what he’s done at any level. The 23-year-old has shown that there are other ways to impact a basketball game as one of the best paint protectors who wins his minutes. The advanced metrics love him for a reason.
That segues to where you can fairly criticize Holmgren. The defense wasn’t there for the Thunder. Too often, Milwaukee’s perimeter scorers easily got by for lanes. They had several easy driving layups. The seven-footer has become an All-Star because of his rim protection. That just wasn’t there.
None of this really matters if the Thunder have Gilgeous-Alexander and Williams back — at least from the offensive side. Let’s see if both return after the All-Star break. But if you’re an OKC fan, the only bright side to this dull outing is that reinforcements will hopefully be on their way for the stretch run.
Isaiah Joe: B
Faking the screen, Joe went to the top of the key. Cason Wallace threw the elementary pass. Despite Sims’ contest, the 26-year-old swished in the deep outside jumper to get things going for the Thunder. Playing some of his best basketball, he’s taken advantage of this hospital stretch.
Joe finished with 17 points on 5-of-11 shooting, four rebounds and two assists. He shot 4-of-9 from 3 and went 3-of-3 on free throws.
It was another hot start for Joe. He had 11 points in the first quarter. Don’t think it’s a coincidence that the Thunder had their best frame when it sought to feed him the ball. When you’re without your three best perimeter scorers, the best way to glue together an offense is by giving more of a workload to your best outside shooters.
The Thunder got the memo early on. But as the game wore on, Joe faded into the background. Without a traditional playmaker or Hartenstein to siphon movement outside looks, the Bucks were able to eventually blanket him. Can’t let that happen when you’re in a scoring drought.
When Gilgeous-Alexander was ruled out for five-plus games, it provided an interesting experiment. Let’s see who among the OKC role players could take on more of an offensive load. Easy to say that Joe is the most popular answer. He’s been on a hot streak over the last two weeks.
Jared McCain: C
Utilizing Jaylin Williams’ screen, McCain had Porter Jr. on his hip. He sprinted to the cup as Dieng couldn’t help in time. The 21-year-old quickly went with the underhanded scoop layup that kissed off the glass for his first bucket of the night.
McCain finished with 13 points on 3-of-9 shooting, three rebounds and two assists. He shot 2-of-6 from 3 and went 5-of-6 on free throws.
Considering who was out, you’d hope McCain could do more with the additional opportunities. Instead, he had his worst game yet in his brief stint on the Thunder. While he scored double-digit points, he wasn’t able to do so in an impactful way. Not being able to hit on his outside jumpers also resulted in OKC experiencing scoring congestion as Milwaukee pulled away.
On the other end, the Bucks went straight at McCain. The Bucks’ humongous frontcourt players bullied their way through the undersized guard. He quickly got into foul trouble with badly-timed fouls that bailed out Milwaukee. How he looks on that side of the floor is the biggest question mark. While he’s mostly held up, this was the worst it’s looked.
Perhaps the expectations were too lofty. After all, McCain has only been in OKC for a week. But considering the state of the roster, this was a game where the Thunder badly needed him to have a breakout scoring output to at least have a chance.
Nikola Topic: A
The story of the night. As Topic checked in, the OKC crowd got on its feet and loudly applauded his NBA debut. You don’t need to be a basketball sicko to know how mountainous the moment was. After being added with the No. 12 pick of the 2024 NBA draft, the 20-year-old finally logged a stat.
Topic finished with two points on 1-of-3 shooting, one assist and one rebound. He shot 0-of-2 from 3.
Meh. Whatever. What he did on the court didn’t matter. We can worry about his basketball fit some other day — although he did show some tantalizing things with his jumper and playmaking. Just so cool that Topic was able to make his NBA debut three months after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer.
On top of missing all of last season with a torn ACL, Topic has had such an extraordinarily difficult journey to get to this point. When the Thunder announced his cancer diagnosis, the entire NBA world rallied around him. Completing his chemotherapy just last month, he’s had quite the speedrun to get to this point.
Over the last month, Topic had participated in pregame warmups and the occasional practice. Earlier this week, he played a back-to-back for the G League’s OKC Blue, signaling he was on the verge of a return. Now that he’s checked off that milestone, he can finally flip the page and prioritize his basketball journey to the top of his life.
Highlights:
