Inside The Spurs

What Victor Wembanyama, Spurs Proved in Statement Win Over Thunder

A high-stakes win over the Oklahoma City Thunder proves that Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs are a legitimate threat to even the NBA's apex predator.
Tom Petrini|
Dec 13, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) flexes in front of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) during the third quarter at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images
Dec 13, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) flexes in front of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) during the third quarter at T-Mobile Arena. Mandatory Credit: Kirby Lee-Imagn Images | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

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San Antonio SpursOklahoma City Thunder

SAN ANTONIO — Most people wouldn't have bet that Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs would be this far along in their journey toward contention, but they bet on themselves, and here they are.

Their win over the Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night doesn't just increase the prize pot and send San Antonio to the final of the NBA Cup; it proves that the Spurs are a legitimate threat to even the NBA's apex predator.

The house always wins in Las Vegas, but, lately, the Thunder has won even more. It came into Sin City for the NBA Cup Semifinal with a 16-game winning streak and a 24-1 record. The Spurs hoped to give it a run for its money after going 9-3 without Wembanyama, who made his much-anticipated return against the defending champs. 

A few days in Vegas is the longest they’ve stayed in the same place in three weeks. The Semifinal against Oklahoma City marked their 10th game in 10 different cities over 22 days. They beat the Nuggets and Lakers on the road in Group Play and earned the reward of an extra game against the league’s top team.

This young and relatively untested group relished the opportunity to prove itself even further, and it did.

San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and guard Devin Vassell (24) react as the final buzzer sounds during a game a
Dec 13, 2025; Las Vegas, Nevada, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and guard Devin Vassell (24) react as the final buzzer sounds during a game against the Oklahoma City Thunder at T-Mobile Arena. | Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

In the crucible of the last month, San Antonio has figured out how to win with depth and team play. It's taken care of the ball and shot it well — crucially important against a juggernaut Thunder defense that leads the league in just about everything, but especially turnovers and transition. 

When the Spurs were dealt in on Saturday night, it went about as poorly for them as possible for the first quarter. There were some sporadic miscues, but they mainly played the cards they were dealt, played the percentages right, and got hammered.

An open 3 for Harrison Barnes is a hand you double-down on every time; you would quadruple-down if it was allowed. Mr. 100 percent went bust six times in a row as San Antonio started 0-12 from deep.

The Spurs did a solid job of forcing reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander into mid-range jumpers, and he was the dealer who kept showing sixes before breaking your heart with unbelievable consistency. Oklahoma City led 31-20 after 12 minutes, and it could’ve been worse.

After the disastrous first shoe, a new player sat down and flipped the whole table. Wembanyama spent the first quarter on the bench with his hands clasped in front of his face, a face that kept betraying how much the young man behind it wanted to impact this contest in particular.

READ MORE: Wembanyama Plans to 'Be Himself' After Injury Recovery

The first time he touched the ball in his first action in a month counted as both points and an offensive rebound. On the second trip he snagged another miss and kicked out to rookie Dylan Harper for 3. 

You could see the rust as he was knocking it off, and still he made a gigantic positive impact. He turned it over twice, and nearly thrice, but dove on the floor and found Julian Champagnie in the corner for another triple.

Wembanyama's first spurt lasted for 3:27, and it drove a 9-2 run to cut OKC’s lead down to 33-29. When he went back to the bench, the Thunder punished them with a 14-2 run as it pushed its lead to 16.

Sixteen is a bad number in Vegas, though. Wembanyama came back in, and De’Aaron Fox came alive, finding the Frenchman for a deep triple off the dribble. Suddenly, zsan Antonio had cut its deficit to three points heading to halftime. 

The Spurs outscored the Thunder by 20 in the 7 minutes Wembanyama played in the first half. Their defense struggled in the games he missed, and in his return San Antonio held the Thunder to 18 points in its worst scoring quarter of the season.

San Antonio hasn’t had much luck in the third quarter this year, and, again, its opening lineup didn’t include Wembanyama. Against these odds, Fox, Devin Vassell and Stephon Castle pushed the Spurs ahead. 

Fox and Vassell drilled clutch triples. Castle, who spent the entire game taking hits to the face with no whistle, kept on driving and creating and scoring anyway. Harper struggled from the floor, but played some solid defense.

Wembanyama played like an alien possessed, wanting it more as the game wore on. He put his tremendous body on the line to go get it. As if that wasn’t enough, and it wouldn’t have been to beat Oklahoma City, he displayed freakish touch and justified swagger. He was power and precision, grace and gall, virtue and vengeance.

Before his return, Wembanyama was asked by Malika Andrews who he thought was the best player in the world. He said when he got back out there, it would be him. Chet Holmgren isn't alone on the long, long list of talented players Wembanyama believes he's better than.

It does seem, however, that Wembanyama enjoys proving it against Holmgren more than anyone else. It's obvious why: Holmgren is almost as tall, and almost as young, and some believe he's almost as talented. Wembanyama aims to disprove this with palpable vitriol, like he's trying to not just defeat his rival, but embarrass him in front of everybody.

It's as if he's offended that anyone would think to compare him to the third option on a stacked team who rarely has to create his own shot. He basically said as much when Taylor Rooks asked him about the rivalry and matchup before the game.

"The MVP's on that court, he is our main focus," he said, rather dismissively. "Anybody is hard to guard when you have to help on the MVP."

That's not a media-trained answer to deflect individual attention to the team game. It goes beyond French honesty into a territory of straight-up disrespect. It's funny, it's spicy and the kind of talk you have to back up when you see the dude on the hardwood.

Holmgren typically favors the smart play over the macho one, but maybe he heard the sound bite and decided he had something to prove. To open the fourth quarter, he took Wembanyama off the dribble at the arc. He stopped, pivoted, faked, and created no space. Then he put his bony shoulder into Wembanyama's gut, at which point he should have kicked out, but foolish pride took over.

The center faded away for a jumper and, again, created no space, Wembanyama obliterated the shot, and all Holmgren was left with was the rebound that went off his shoulder.

The Spurs began feeding Wembanyama at the free throw line to great effect, with Holmgren and his considerable defensive talents guarding smaller wings on the court. When Holmgren was forced to help on Wembanyama on the low block, he drilled a fader in his face to put the Spurs up six.

Wembanyama went to the bench and the Thunder went on a run. When he came back in, his Spurs were down a deuce, and Holmgren helped off Champagnie to stuff a layup attempt by Castle. Spurs coach Mitch Johnson drew up something simple, but devastating for the ensuing baseline out of bounds play.

He stationed Champagnie at the top of the key, and Holmgren was a hair late as Wembanyama bullied his much smaller defender out of the way before cramming the lob from Castle.

Down a point with 2:30 left, Wembanyama once again got it at the free throw line. Stalwart defender Alex Caruso disrupted his shot twice in about a second. Wembanyama recovered the ball in his upward motion, fired, swished, and pointed directly at Caruso as he yelled at him. Based on context clues, it may have been something about being too little.

Wembanyama scored 15 of his 22 points in the final period, including 7-of-10 from the free throw line. The buckets he didn't score, he impacted by bending the defense with his gravity and opening up opportunities for his teammates.

The Spurs managed a slight lead in the last minute while the Thunder fouled intentionally, sending Steph Castle to the line for the first time despite numerous blows to the face and hacks of his arms. 

Castle sized up the rim with gauze in his nose and a bloody lower lip, looking like a character from The Hangover. He calmly drained them both and finished with 22 points, joining Wembanyama, Fox and Vassell with over 20. 

Johnson spoke earlier in the year about embracing the mundane, and he made the last minute about as thrilling as a balancing a checkbook by instructing his team to foul up three over and over. It was as anticlimactic as it was effective. 

The Spurs hung on and won 111-109, advancing to the NBA Cup Final against the Knicks on Tuesday night with over $500 thousand on the line for each player. More importantly, they tested themselves against the best teams in the West — all of them — and came out on top. 

This doesn’t prove that San Antonio is better than Oklahoma City, and the Thunder will be extra motivated to disprove that notion when the two teams meet again three more times in the next month, including Christmas Day.

In fact, Wembanyama's postgame quotes, though not explicitly directed at the Thunder, may wind up on a bulletin board in Oklahoma City.

“Some people are built for this moment and some aren't," the 21-year-old said bluntly. "We definitely are. "I'm just glad to be part of something that's growing to be so beautiful ... pure and ethical basketball."

What this win does prove, however, is that San Antonio is one of the only teams that has a legitimate chance to knock the Thunder off its pedestal.

It proves that Oklahoma City does bleed, and that the Spurs can make it. San Antonio did so on a night where it didn’t have its best performances, and its MVP candidate played just 20 minutes off the bench. The lights were brighter than they’ve been for this team in over six years.

The Spurs have goals beyond the NBA Cup, and they still have a lot of progress to make. But with this victory, they announced to the Thunder and the rest of the NBA that they are no longer simply knocking on the door of their bright future. 

Wembanyama and the Spurs have officially arrived, and nobody else is safe. 

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Tom Petrini
TOM PETRINI

Tom Petrini has covered Spurs basketball for the last decade, first for Project Spurs and then for KENS 5 in San Antonio. After leaving the newsroom he co-founded the Silver and Black Coffee Hour, a weekly podcast where he catches up on Spurs news with friends Aaron Blackerby and Zach Montana. Tom lives in Austin with his partner Jess and their dogs Dottie and Guppy. His other interests include motorsports and making a nice marinara sauce.

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