Highlights and Recap: Spurs Stumble Against Shorthanded Thunder, But Win 116-106

The Thunder had most of their team riding the bench, but still managed to give San Antonio a scare in a game the Spurs wound up winning 116-106.

Victor Wembanyama finished with 22 points and 14 rebounds, and De’Aaron Fox added 15 points and 10 assists. Keldon Johnson led San Antonio with 25 points. There’s a certain unpredictability in playing a team that’s resting guys, but Spurs head coach Mitch Johnson summed up the bigger issue that kept this game from being the blowout it should have been.

"I think our challenge is continuously playing each golf course the same no matter where we're playing,” Johnson said.

"I felt like we got a little unfocused at times,” said Keldon Johnson. "Ultimately we got the win, but definitely some things we would love to clean up and be tighter on."

Oklahoma City already had Jalen Williams out before announcing that Shai Gilgeous-Alexander would be out through the All-Star Break. After that, they benched basically everyone in their rotation in a move that would’ve made Gregg Popovich smile.

The Spurs had an interesting injury report of their own. Dylan Harper missed the game with an ankle issue, and Jeremy Sochan and Kelly Olynyk were held out amid speculation that they could be moved before the NBA trade deadline at 2 p.m. central on Thursday.

With a few hours to go and plenty of options, Spurs GM Brian Wright was seen working his phone from his vantage point in the stands.

Spurs GM Brian Wright, confirmed cellphone haver pic.twitter.com/V6qtgGjYpf
— Silver & Black Coffee Hour (@SlvrBlkCoffeeHr) February 5, 2026

On the court San Antonio pounced on the Thunder right out of the gate, building a 10-point advantage in the first few minutes as they generated open look after open look. The Spurs led 39-23 after a quarter, and built their lead as big as 22 in the second quarter. OKC cut into that deficit a bit as they got some open shots of their own.

"A lot of the 3s that they made, they were by guys that we wanted them to take those shots,” Steph Castle said after the game when asked about the defensive game plan. "They made a couple. Obviously, they played well... A couple of those were on us, self inflicted, so we have to go back and watch those.”

In the first half Wembanyama was having some fun out there at the expense of the Thunder’s B team. He tried to go around the world on a driving dunk attempt and missed, then busted out the fake spin but coughed it up. He did get a few successful highlight-reel plays, finishing a fun alley-oop and snatching back a smooth stepback 3.

Playing with his food a little tonight 😂pic.twitter.com/gRDSb7x1pE
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Wemby is ridiculous man pic.twitter.com/AMqQyHNtyN https://t.co/vpEYLsKzYX
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Carter Bryant has basically been the tenth man in the rotation, and made the most of his early minutes as his confidence soared. Early on he caught the ball open on the wing and turned down the shot. When he got it back on the next play in the same spot, he let it rip and swished it, hitting 3-3 from deep in the first half and finishing a putback dunk.

Carter Bryant, two hands for safety pic.twitter.com/Ik0LakEEbB
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“I think a lot of times for young guys, and it's a good trait, because that means they care, but when they're trying to not make mistakes," Johnson said about Bryant. "They're trying to be perfect at times. I think you see instances where they don't trust their instincts. And most of the guys that get to this league have good instincts, and so it's just It's rewarding to see a young man continue to grow incrementally in that way."

The Spurs led 73-58 at the break. Out of the locker room the Thunder made another push to within single digits, then Keldon Johnson responded. After a pair of triples in the first half he hit another pair on back-to-back possessions in the third quarter before a driving layup. He scored 25 points in his first 17 minutes.

Keldon is one of the smoothest standstill shooters in the gamepic.twitter.com/j4h5q9o5Ff
— Silver & Black Coffee Hour (@SlvrBlkCoffeeHr) February 5, 2026

Backup big man Luke Kornet snagged 15 rebounds in 15 minutes, and his activity on the offensive boards helped shift things for San Antonio.

"We needed all the possessions," Mitch Johnson said. "We challenged them regarding the rebounding. That's obviously been something that we haven't always been on the plus side of, and he did a great job of obviously, you know, nine offensive rebounds creating extra possessions for us."

The Thunder were able to hang around in the game thanks to their shooting. They hit a crisp 40% on 47 attempts from 3.

"In the second half, (the offense) started to get a little bit more stagnant, but I feel like, late in the fourth, we picked it up," said Castle. "I feel like our defense kind of kind of held strong as much as we needed to."

In the fourth quarter Castle got up for a tremendous block in transition, and on the ensuing break Wembanyama tried to tear the roof off the arena but got stuffed by the rim. The play was emblematic of the problems caused by doing too much at times.

Oklahoma City took this one into crunch time as the Spurs kept turning it over and bricking shots in the fourth quarter. The San Antonio crowd grew restless and worried. Wembanyama checked back in and finished an alley-top, then missed one, then made another.

Down the stretch Castle and Fox hit big shots, and Wemby got a block before finishing his third alley-oop in the final three minutes.

San Antonio escaped 116-106 to move to 34-16 on the year. Despite the win, they know they have plenty of things to clean up. Now they’ll head to Dallas for a chance to get it right against the Mavericks on Thursday night.