OKC Thunder Puts Franchise Record Streak on Line vs. Spurs

Christmas Day's matchup between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs has plenty of branches off the topic tree to pick from, fittingly enough.

The OKC Thunder have lost three of their last five games, despite being 26-4, including two to these same Spurs as recently as Tuesday night when the Bricktown Ballers suffered their most lopsided defeat.

Oklahoma City aims to get back on track and snap a two game skid to the No. 2 team in the Western Conference on Thursday in their return to the Christmas Day stage for the first time since 2018. It is the first Holiday Hoop session in the Paycom Center since 2017.

As Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is set to make his Christmas Day debut as the league's reigning NBA MVP, Western Conference Finals MVP, NBA Finals MVP and Scoring Champion, Oklahoma City puts a piece of history on the line.

On Monday, when the Oklahoma City Thunder pulled away from the scrappy Memphis Grizzlies late to pull off a 119-103 win, it marked the club's 14th straight win at home, tying a franchise record for most consecutive wins in their building.

A win on Tuesday would put that mark over the top for this 2025-26 OKC Thunder group to stand up above the rest for one of the winningest professional sports franchises since 2008.

Though the San Antonio Spurs will have a lot to say about it, their defense has proven to give Oklahoma City fits when trying to create a half-court offense. From the poor shot quality to the turnovers, it has looked anything but clean. That might not turn around on Thursday with one of the Thunder's three best ball handlers, Ajay Mitchell, still ruled out for this contest in concussion protocol.

The Oklahoma City Thunder will also miss back up big man Jaylin Williams, bench forward Ousmane Dieng as well as rookies Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic for this game while the Spurs are at full strength sans their two-way contracted players being on G League assignment.

No matter what happens tomorrow, this stand alone affair will be under the microscope for both sides. The Spurs even in a loss no matter the score will still be rightfully riding off the hype of the first two meetings but if they can pull off a third straight win over OKC, the temperature heats up in a big way. For the Thunder, while no one will pat them on the back with a win, they can save face just a tad by getting off this skid against this young Western Conference contending club.

Stay tuned to Thunder on SI for complete coverage of this Christmas Day game as well as the entire 2025-26 season for the Oklahoma City Thunder.