OKC Thunder Punches Ticket to NBA Cup SemiFinal in Vegas

The Oklahoma City Thunder mopped the floor with the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night during the NBA Cup quarterfinals to punch their ticket to Vegas.

Nov 28, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) gives a thumbs up to his team during the second half against the Phoenix Suns at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

Wednesday night began the Western Conference single elimination tournament portion of the NBA Cup. The Oklahoma City Thunder went a perfect 4-0 in the Western Conference Group A pool play stage, their point differential good enough to earn the Bricktown Ballers the No. 1 seed in the tournament. Their fellow Group A pool pals, the Phoenix Suns, went 3-1 in that stage. Thanks to their narrow loss to the Thunder, the Suns captured the wild card spot to force a rematch to open up the quarterfinals knockout round back in the Paycom Center on Amazon Prime.

In this game, the OKC Thunder got their superstar, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, back from his one game absences missing the Utah Jazz clash on Sunday for his lone missed game on the season. The Thunder also welcomed back defensive-aces Lu Dort and Alex Caruso to the lineup on Wednesday. That left the typical lengthy Thunder injury report to just four players. Isaiah Hartenstein, Isaiah Joe, Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber.

Meanwhile, despite some optimism of elevating star guard Devin Booker to questionable prior to the contest, the Suns bucket getter ended up missing this tilt due to a groin injury. That left Phoenix does both scorers with Booker and Jalen Green in street clothes and devoid of ball handlers for this knockout game.

The Oklahoma City Thunder quickly gained a 20 point lead in the opening frame before seeing the never say die Suns get back within 13 in the second quarter. However, another Thunder run quickly blew the game back out with the Bricktown Ballers able to turn in a 74-48 lead at intermission.

The OKC Thunder were able to use that lead to lift them past the scrappy Phoenix Suns in this game and punch the Thunder's ticket to Vegas. This marks the second straight trip to the final four of the NBA Cup tournament, seeing Oklahoma City make the final four in two of the first three years that this in season tournament has been implemented.

Dec 10, 2025; Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (2) reacts after a play against the Phoenix Suns during the second quarter at Paycom Center. Mandatory Credit: Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images | Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images

OKC Thunder punches their ticket to Vegas

In the second half, the Thunder grew their largest lead of the season thanks to their big 3 shining in this win. In just 28 minutes of action, Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 28 points, eight assists, two rebounds, two steals and a block while shooting 11-for-15 from the floor, 3-for-4 from 3 and 3-for-3 at the charity stripe. Jalen Williams added in 15 points, five rebounds, as many assists and a steal while Chet Holmgren went off for 24 points, eight rebounds and two assists.

With this win, the schedule gets clearer. Now, Oklahoma City sits back and awaits the winner of the Los Angeles Lakers-San Antonio Spurs bout later tonight to see who the Thunder will play on Saturday in the Western Conference semifinal of the NBA Cup tournament. The winner of Saturday's affair will play in Tuesday's NBA Cup championship, an 83rd game on the schedule that doesn't count in the regular season stats and standings. Though, Saturday's game will double as a regular season contest and an NBA Cup tilt.

The Suns, meanwhile, await the loser of that Lakers-Spurs game, as those two will play to make up the 82nd game of their season. The date and location of that affair are still to be determined.

Oklahoma City made it all the way to the NBA Cup championship a year ago, before falling to the Milwaukee Bucks last December in Vegas. The Thunder hope to avenge that loss and win not only the team's first Cup Championship but bring home the cash prize attached to that contest.

This win also ties the Oklahoma City Thunder with the Golden State Warriors 24-1 start back in the 2015-16 season for the league's best. Tonight marks the 16th straight win for Oklahoma City, a new franchise record.

Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the Oklahoma City Thunder's NBA Cup run and entire 2025-26 season.