Long gone are the days when fans would look forward to the inevitable finals matchup between the Golden State Warriors and the Cleveland Cavaliers, or even the Heat and the Spurs. Today, parody rules the NBA as new champions are crowned year after year. Since the integration of the second apron, it’s been difficult for teams to maintain a consistent core of strong players for extended periods, which almost eliminates any rivalries.
The Oklahoma City Thunder are the closest thing the NBA has to a potential dynasty. They are the reigning champions that play one of the most dominant defences in league history and have the 2025 M.V.P. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. In a league marked by constant change, any team that can consistently dominate for three or more seasons fills a vital role in any sport as the “Goliath” figure. Fans love to discuss the 2015-19 era as peak NBA, which was in part due to the presence of an immovable force, with teams trying anything and everything to take down the Steph Curry and Kevin Durant Warriors.
Narratives aside, there’s been no better story so far this year than the emergence of the San Antonio Spurs and their constant clashing with OKC, that’s seen the Texas team get the last laugh for the majority of the matchups.
When the Thunder were running through the league in the early stages of the season, the Spurs had them figured out from top to bottom.
Shai versus Victor Wembanyama is the marquee matchup that sets the base for the rivalry. Here we are seeing two of the best players in the league battle, with Shai positioned as the villain and Wemby as the up-and-coming hero. Although both players have put on legendary performances against each other, Wemby has put most of his focus on OKC big man Chet Holmgren, a seemingly random choice.
The teams’ first two matchups saw Wemby going at the Gonzaga product, accompanied by lots of yelling and trash-talking after hard fouls and tough buckets. Wemby and Holmgren had no prior beef, and when the French big man began his reign of terror on Holmgren, the NBA world was taken aback. This was for the better, as this kind of in-game drama made this clash of the titans that much more entertaining.
When asked about Holmgren, Wembanyama responded with “there’s no comparison, I’m on a different level than him.”
Although he acknowledged Holmgren’s undeniable talent, fans had never heard the former first overall pick speak in that sort of manner towards another player.
Unfortunately for viewers, both players either missed time or were on minutes restrictions for their four matchups, but when they were on the floor against each other, it was pure cinema. Wembanyama got the better of Holmgren for the most part; however, there was still plenty of back and forth between the two giants.
In terms of the teams themselves, the Spurs stepped it up a couple of notches when matched up against the defending champs, especially on defence. In their three wins against the Thunder during the regular season, the Spurs have limited a great offence to under 111 points each game. This was also done in the absence of Wembanyama for long stretches of the game. Head Coach Mitch Johnson has found a way to limit Shai while also keeping any dangerous role players at bay. This includes Lou Dort, who they often leave wide open around the arc, where he struggles to shoot from.
This rivalry reached its boiling point during a stretch of back-to-back games in December when the Spurs took both games in dominant fashion. Discourse around the Thunder was starting to shift after they’d lost a couple of games before those two, and with the Spurs on the rise, it looked as though San Antonio had something brewing.
Now with all four regular-season matchups in the books, fans must wait for the playoffs to see them clash once again. As it stands, the Thunder still sits atop the conference with a 37-8 record, while the Spurs sit 6.5 games behind them in second place.
Whichever team you cheer for, the rivalry between the Spurs and Thunder has been nothing short of entertaining thus far. It’s only a matter of time before the two teams match up in the playoffs for a series that has legendary potential written all over it.