SAN ANTONIO — When does a matchup change into a rivalry?
The vanishing of a core rivalry — a pairing of groups whose matchups convey the NBA to a halt — has been one of many penalties of the NBA’s transient parity period. A rivalry, steadily nurtured by historical past and competitors over time, brings a fireplace, ardour and consequence that lives past the standings. However the heart of gravity strikes so swiftly by the league today that it’s exhausting for groups, and even two gamers, to carry the world’s consideration for too lengthy.
The Oklahoma Metropolis Thunder arrived shortly and have endurance, from their expertise to their payroll. The speak of them taking up the following decade was untimely contemplating there hasn’t been a repeat champion since 2018, however they definitely appeared inevitable.
However that’s the previous tense. No matter certainty there was concerning the Thunder’s grasp on the 2020s should now take care of one reality: The San Antonio Spurs have overwhelmed them twice in 10 days.
The Spurs’ 130-114 house win on Tuesday doesn’t scrap the following chapter of the Thunder’s story. However it’s time for some rewrites. The Spurs are proving to be a most important character in OKC’s journey, and the broader NBA world is about to have that reality thrust of their faces when the 2 groups match up once more in Oklahoma Metropolis on Christmas.
So what makes a competitor a rival?
“I assume the indicators are each evening is packed, vitality is totally different, physicality from the primary to the forty eighth minute is up there,” Victor Wembanyama mentioned.
Test. Test. Test.
Whereas true rivalry grows from the strain of uncertainty, the feel of the matchup — the texture of the video games, the personalities that outline the moments inside and out of doors the strains — brings it to the following stage. Somebody must be sick of any individual.
Wembanyama and Chet Holmgren, the 2 younger 7-foot unicorns who’ve gone at one another since they had been youngsters on the youth circuit, have had some moments that time the drama-seeking digicam of their path. When Wembanyama drove by Holmgren and despatched the Thunder huge to the bottom on what was deemed an offensive foul late within the third quarter, it felt like a second we’ll bear in mind the following time they get in one another’s face.
Although there’s not a lot historical past but between these groups, the Wembanyama-Holmgren matchup is a transparent catalyst.
“No, I don’t take into consideration that,” Wembanyama mentioned in French after the sport, per L’Equipe’s Maxime Aubin. “No less than from a basketball standpoint, there’s no comparability (between us).”
However most of all, rivalries have to reply a deeper query. It needs to be extra than simply the playoff bracket main acquainted faces towards each other. There must be one thing extra at stake than advancing.
The Thunder and Spurs have the makings of a league-defining rivalry as a result of their connection poses a number of existential quandaries. Specifically, Wembanyama ignited one when he proclaimed how proud he was to be part of a staff that performed “pure and moral basketball.”
His feedback, which got here after San Antonio’s NBA Cup semifinal win over the Thunder, positioned the Spurs into the position of the hero, defending the soul of the game towards the present titans of the sport. He claimed his Spurs had been performing a model of basketball that’s extra tactically right, an goal willpower to a subjective pursuit. Whether or not he meant it as a direct swipe on the Thunder’s model of play, which has usually been criticized as a manipulation of the rulebook, he’s conscious of the best way the basketball world is churning.
In a sport the place play kinds are evolving each few years, what’s extra tactically right is what works. The Thunder’s techniques work for his or her expertise. So do the Spurs’. However moments like these pull again the veneer of basketball chivalry for what this all actually is: a head-on collision.
After all, even Wembanyama was clear that this will’t be a rivalry till the Spurs win on the identical stage because the Thunder. In truth, to these concerned, calling it a rivalry was a bit gauche.
“It appears like saying it’s a rivalry can be a bizarre factor,” Wembanyama mentioned. “It’s one thing that feels pure. I didn’t say that it’s not possible that it may be sooner or later, and I hope will probably be quickly. However we’re undoubtedly getting nearer.”
Spurs coach Mitch Johnson mentioned he doesn’t view Spurs-Thunder as a budding rivalry as a result of his staff has been collectively for a 3rd of a season, whereas the Thunder simply received a title.
“I don’t need to disrespect their program and what they constructed,” Johnson mentioned. “We try to construct one thing, and we’re chasing each different single staff on this league, and so they’re clearly on the forefront of all of it.”
Spurs wing Devin Vassell additionally didn’t take the bait.
“If the media says it’s, I assume,” Vassell mentioned earlier than Tuesday’s recreation. “To us, it’s simply one other recreation that we need to win.”
He can inform himself that to maintain his mindset stage, and that seems to work for him. However the proof of the sport itself was clear: Spurs gamers, coaches and followers handled this like a defining recreation of the season. When Wembanyama hit a 3 over Alex Caruso to push the Spurs’ result in 12 within the fourth quarter, it was the loudest the Frost Financial institution Heart has been all 12 months. It might have been the loudest it has been all decade.
FBC IS ROCKIN’ 🎉
🌟 Vote #NBAAllStar: https://t.co/frD28T3bmx📺 @FanDuelSN_SW pic.twitter.com/HfWc9GtrRn
— San Antonio Spurs (@spurs) December 24, 2025
And it hardly appears a coincidence that the Spurs selected this evening to unveil their new victory celebration, when Wembanyama, spurred on by the European soccer-style Jackals fan part he’s championed, banged a drum alongside his teammates to spur on the group.
Spurs veteran Harrison Barnes has been round some rivalries of consequence in his time with the Golden State Warriors. He was there within the early levels of the Warriors’ run, after they went from first-round exit to champion in a single season, then adopted that up with a 73-9 marketing campaign that led to a loss to LeBron James and the Cleveland Cavaliers.
“I feel rivalries are good,” Barnes mentioned. “They’re wholesome, when two groups have excessive aspirations of the place they need to go and what they need to do.”
The Thunder are the primary franchise since these Warriors to forged that daunting a shadow over the league. They’d an exceptional championship run final season, then heightened that dominance to the purpose the place there didn’t appear to be a means out of their path.
Now, after two losses to San Antonio, the shadow seems a bit lighter. It’s too quickly to know what number of lumens are beginning to poke by, nor are these two video games (and the results of the rematch on Christmas) sufficient to shut the hole between these two groups. However the hole is shrinking.
“Nonetheless acquired just a few wins earlier than we will make amends for them, however it means one thing for positive,” Wembanyama mentioned.
There was a notable second on the finish of Tuesday’s recreation that illustrated the significance of this second. After the Spurs took a timeout with just below 4 minutes left within the recreation, ahead Keldon Johnson hit a 3 proper out of the break to push the Spurs’ result in 18. Then, Thunder coach Mark Daigneault instantly known as a timeout and pulled his starters. With a rematch simply 48 hours away, it got here throughout as Daigneault sending a message to his staff after the Spurs had overwhelmed them twice in a row, with Wembanyama taking part in at perhaps 70 p.c of his functionality because of a minutes restrict.
For 2 straight matchups, the Spurs have performed to the Thunder what the Thunder have performed to just about each different staff within the league. Whether or not you name it a rivalry that’s budding, rising, blossoming or simply straight up right here, it does exist. And in lower than 48 hours, the Thunder will get their likelihood to deal with the existential questions these groups current after they go at one another once more.
“They’re going to be locked in additional than any time earlier than, in all probability,” Wembaynama mentioned. “I do know it’s a resourceful staff, however we’re gonna be there too.”
