San Antonio opens the 2026-27 season at home against Oklahoma City on Oct. 20 at 8:30 p.m. CT on NBC, a rematch of the Western Conference finals.
These two last played on May 30 at Paycom Center, where San Antonio won Game 7 of the Western Conference finals 111-103. Victor Wembanyama had 22 points and 7 rebounds in that game and received the Magic Johnson Trophy as conference finals MVP. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 35.
The series went the distance. San Antonio won Game 1 in Oklahoma City 122-115 in double overtime, and Oklahoma City took three of the next four, moving ahead 3-2 with a 127-114 win in Game 5. The Spurs won Game 6 at home 118-91. Then came the Game 7 on the road.
Before the conference finals, the two had met five times last season, and San Antonio won four of them, including a 111-109 win in the NBA Cup semifinals in December. Game 7 was their 12th meeting of 2025-26.
Since 1982 the franchises have met in seven playoff series, and San Antonio has won five. They have played 41 postseason games against each other, and the Spurs hold a 23-18 edge. Three of the seven series came against the Seattle SuperSonics, the franchise that relocated to Oklahoma City in 2008. San Antonio won a Western Conference semifinal in five games in 1982, a first-round series 3-2 in 2002, and another semifinal in six games in 2005.
In the 2012 Western Conference finals, San Antonio won the first two games and lost the next four. The 2014 Western Conference finals went the other way, with San Antonio closing it out 112-107 in overtime in Oklahoma City in Game 6 and going on to win the championship. Two years later the Thunder beat a Spurs team that had gone 67-15 in the regular season, taking the conference semifinals in six.
Gilgeous-Alexander won his second consecutive MVP on May 17. He averaged 31.1 points last season and shot 55.3% from the field. Oklahoma City finished 64-18.
Wembanyama was voted Defensive Player of the Year in April on all 100 ballots, the first unanimous winner since the award was created in 1982-83. He averaged 25.0 points and 11.5 rebounds. His 197 blocks led the NBA. San Antonio went 62-20 and ranked third in defensive rating.
The starting group of Wembanyama, De'Aaron Fox, Stephon Castle, Devin Vassell, and Julian Champagnie went 21-3 together in the regular season and returns for 2026-27. Spurs coach Mitch Johnson enters his second season as the full-time head coach.
Two more San Antonio dates are set. Houston visits Frost Bank Center on Friday, Oct. 23 at 8:30 p.m. CT on Prime Video, and the Spurs play at New York at 11 a.m. CT on Christmas on ABC and ESPN. Oklahoma City opens at home against Denver on Thursday, Oct. 22.
The NBA Cup schedule comes out Wednesday. The full 2026-27 schedule for all 30 teams will be released Thursday at 3 p.m. ET, with coverage on ESPN2.
