OKC Thunder Center Depth Making Difference vs. Spurs, Wembanyama

The Thunder's three bigs are having impactful minutes.

May 22, 2026; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) dribbles the ball past Oklahoma City Thunder center Isaiah Hartenstein (55) in the second half during game three of the western conference finals for the 2026 NBA playoffs at Frost Bank Center. Mandatory Credit: Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images | Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images

Oklahoma City secured another win against the San Antonio Spurs to take control of the Western Conference Finals, and its big men are helping lead the charge.

On Friday night, the Thunder strolled into San Antonio and beat the Spurs 123-108 to take a 2-1 lead in the conference finals. After dropping Game 1, the Thunder have responded with back-to-back wins, and they now have a chance to take clear control of the series going into Game 4.

While the Thunder’s overall talent has been on display from Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to the 10th man, Oklahoma City’s sudden control in this series can largely be attributed to the play of the three big men. Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein and Jaylin Williams have all had their moments in this series through three games, and they’ll continue to be the key to Oklahoma City’s success in this matchup.

Although the raw offensive numbers for the three haven’t necessarily been eye-opening, their defense has been a key reason Oklahoma City now leads 2-1. Going up against Victor Wembanyama can seem like an impossible task, and that was only reinforced with his Game 1 dominance.

However, Mark Daigneault opted to switch things up over the past two games, throwing Hartenstein onto the alien for most minutes and giving Holmgren and Williams some time on him as well. Forcing Wembanyama further from the basket and forcing him to deal with bigger bodies is a strategy that’s worked thus far and could continue to work.

One of the keys within that strategy is Oklahoma City’s ability to constantly rotate guys and not keep any one big on Wembanyama for too long. Giving Wembanyma consistently different looks and forcing him to face fresher bodies has certainly helped the Thunder, which is something Williams alluded to after Game 3.

“I know I’m not gonna play as many minutes as he is, so the minutes I’m out there, I’m trying to make his job as tough as I can make it,” Williams said.

Considering that’s the main priority for each of Oklahoma City’s bigs when they’re on the floor, the offense any of them provide is simply an extra boost. Williams led the big men with 18 in Game 3, while Holmgren’s 14 marked his highest-scoring contest of the series. 

Wembanyama is too good to keep doing the same things over and over, so Daigneault and company will almost certainly have to adjust again at some point, but the Thunder’s frontcourt trio has already done enough to put control of the conference finals back in their hands.