Editor's note: This story was originally published on Dec. 23 and has been updated ahead of Tuesday's matchup.
VICTOR WEMBANYAMA SLID his massive sized 20 ½ feet into a pair of furry brown Louis Vuitton kicks made exclusively for him and pondered the prospect of facing the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder for the fourth time this season.
Inside a dark, mostly empty visiting locker room at Minnesota's Target Center on Sunday, Wembanyama recalled San Antonio's win on Christmas Day against the Thunder as a seminal moment in his budding career.
"I remember the feeling, of course," the 22-year old said. "Not to say it means anything, because it was just a regular-season game. But that's probably the moment where I felt we were probably, in my career, [at] our best so far."
For good reason, too, considering that win marked San Antonio's eighth in a row and third in a span of 12 days over Oklahoma City. The Spurs ushered the Thunder out of the NBA Cup semifinals just 12 days prior in Wembanyama's first game back after sitting out 12 outings because of a sprained left calf. Then, two days before the Christmas win, San Antonio dusted Oklahoma City by 20 points in a game that featured 15 lead changes and 13 ties before the Spurs finally smashed the gas with a crushing 43-point fourth quarter.
"We have to get better," Thunder star point guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said in the aftermath of that Christmas defeat. "You don't lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you."
While the Spurs lead the season series 3-0, Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder will get their chance to add a win over their rivals Tuesday at Oklahoma City's Paycom Center in yet another battle between the Nos. 1 and 2 seeds in the Western Conference.
Wembanyama anticipates encountering a Thunder squad that's "pissed off" and looking for revenge after the previous three meetings saw the NBA's future topple its present.
"Of course, it will be just like we would be if we got beat three times," Wembanyama said. "But they were already a good team before they were pissed off."
After, too.
Oklahoma City showcased as much since its last loss to San Antonio by winning seven of its nine games by an average margin of 17 points. The Spurs, meanwhile, have since endured a pair of two-game losing streaks, in addition to a loss Sunday at Minnesota in which they sped out to a 16-0 start and led by as many as 19 before Anthony Edwards hit a winning floater with 16.8 seconds left to complete a Timberwolves comeback.
"We're just trying to get back on the winning side of things," San Antonio guard De'Aaron Fox said. "Just going in there and executing whatever our game plan may be if we're going to make adjustments after already playing them three times. It's hard to beat a team four times in a row."
THE DALLAS MAVERICKS were the last team to eliminate Oklahoma City in the playoffs, beating the Thunder in the 2024 West semifinals en route to an NBA Finals appearance -- and then, months later, shockingly traded pre-prime, perennial MVP candidate Luka Doncic.
Rest assured, the Spurs fully intend to build around their trio of top-four lottery picks -- Wembanyama and guards Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper -- for the foreseeable future. It could be this generation's version of Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili in San Antonio.
The last time Oklahoma City and San Antonio faced off in the postseason -- in the 2016 Western Conference semifinals -- the Spurs featured Duncan, Parker and Ginobili alongside younger stars LaMarcus Aldridge and Kawhi Leonard, fresh off his first All-Star appearance and second NBA Defensive Player of the Year award. The Thunder, meanwhile, were anchored by Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and Steven Adams.
OKC would knock off the Spurs in six games, as the Thunder trio combined for 80 points in a 113-99 rout in Game 6.
Duncan left the floor at Chesapeake Energy Arena (now called Paycom Center) with confetti embedded in his hair and uncertainty in his heart about continuing his Hall of Fame career. Leaning back against a cinder block wall in the visitors' locker room, a dejected Duncan was asked about his future.
"I'll get to that after I get out of here and figure out life," he said.
Duncan would announce his retirement two months after the loss in Oklahoma City.
The rivalry between the teams never lived up to its potential. The Thunder fell in the opening round of the playoffs over the next four seasons, before missing the postseason the next three years. San Antonio, meanwhile, advanced to the conference finals the next season, before suffering elimination in the opening round the next two seasons, followed by a six-year postseason drought.
The Thunder and Spurs have battled it out in three postseason series since the former's move to Oklahoma City. The Thunder won two (2012 and 2016), posting a 10-8 playoff record against San Antonio.
Perhaps now the rivalry is back, or at least in the early stages of development. Castle believes the Spurs sent a message with their semifinal win.
"It just showed that we're serious," he said. "It shows our maturity down the line with whatever five is in the game. We have a lot of guys that can do it any given night. People are saying that they were unbeatable. But we come into every game with that same mindset, so I think it just shows what kind of team we are."
Spurs impress again vs. the Thunder as they take down the defending champs on the road.
A COMMENT BY Wembanyama during his postgame media availability after the Cup semifinal raised eyebrows, particularly from the hordes of folks hopeful the Spurs can become thorns in the Thunder's side.
"I'm just glad to be a part of something that's growing to be so beautiful," Wembanyama said, answering a question about San Antonio's success in winning nine of the 12 games he had missed due to a left calf strain before his return that night.
Wembanyama paused and contemplated, looking for just the right words: "Pure and ethical basketball, you know."
Was that a subtle jab at the Thunder? Was it a sly nod to the rampant social media rumbling from opposing fans who whine that Gilgeous-Alexander draws so many fouls calls while Oklahoma City gets away with flexing a football-style physicality on defense? What exactly did Wembanyama mean by the phrase "pure and ethical basketball?"
It was such a subject of intrigue that the first two questions of his next media availability, conducted two days later before practice, were variations of that inquiry in French and English.
"Basically, my answer is simply going to be that in modern basketball we see a lot of brands of basketball that don't offer much variety in the dangers they pose to the opponents," Wembanyama said. "Lots of isolation ball. Sometimes kind of forced basketball.
"We try to propose a brand of basketball that can be described as more old-school sometimes, the Spurs' way, as well. It's tactically more correct basketball, in my opinion."
That response sent no shade Oklahoma City's way. Wembanyama also struck a respectful tone when asked whether the Spurs believed there's a rivalry brewing with the Thunder.
"I think we're not quite there yet, but it's a good sign that people see that it's possible because it's not like we're the second seed right now," he said. "I don't think anybody right now can claim to have a rivalry with them in the league. They're in their own tier.
"But in the future if we can provide a stage this good and we reach that level, of course it would be great to have a rivalry because if you're at the top and you have a rivalry, it means you're in the best position to win titles. I'm very interested by it."