Oklahoma City’s extensive depth has been on display for nearly the entire duration of the season thus far. Having 26 wins and five losses, on paper you’d think all is nearly perfect for this team.
And while it was for a moment, the defending champions have since been exposed on the national stage, and by the next best team in the Western Conference.
The San Antonio Spurs, a team who has been on the come-up for a just a short time now but has been on the radar with its acquisitions in recent years—this Spurs team is feeling eerily similar to the 2022-23 or the 2023-24 Thunder. An exceptionally talented team, but seemingly just a year or two away from being a team that can win it all.
They’re ahead of schedule. And now up 3-0 in the season series against Oklahoma City, all wins coming in the month of December—with its most recent win against the Thunder coming on Christmas day—this team has been the only one thus far to consistently neutralize OKC and expose its weaknesses.
One of those being it’s heavy reliance on superstar and reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He’s one of the best players in the entire world, along with one of the best scorers. It’s natural you rely on your primary guy to get you 30-plus points a night. But against teams like San Antonio who match up very well with lengthy perimeter defenders, it’s not always feasible.
A year ago, Oklahoma City was able to turn to others in times of need when defenses are scheming against Gilgeous-Alexander to throw the superstar off his game. That’s not an often thing, but with the Spurs’ personnel and approach, they’ve been able to do it.
Holding Gilgeous-Alexander to 22 points on Thursday in front of a national, Christmas day audience illustrated that. Jalen Williams did not show up when needed, putting up just 12 points on 5-for-13 shooting—something we have seen before from the Thunder’s second option. Chet Holmgren, not showing up offensively in his matchup against Victor Wembanyama—posting just 10 points himself.
But beyond the stars, typically you’d see someone else show up in these types of big games. Aaron Wiggins, Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe, Cason Wallace, the list goes on. But the Spurs have this team’s number.
This team is still great. Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren have still helped guide this team to a massively impressive 26-5 record to lead the Western Conference. But even mounting that record and having an NBA title under its belt, maturation is still to be had, and certainly against this San Antonio squad.
Luckily for them, this team will have two other contests against Wembanyama and the Spurs to display that it is still to be feared when it’s all said and done.