With ten players sidelined, including all starters, the Thunder battled valiantly against the Spurs, showcasing surprising resilience and standout performances from unexpected sources.
The Oklahoma City Thunder fell to the San Antonio Spurs 116-106 on Wednesday night, but it was a game the Thunder wasn’t expected to win. Despite the first four matchups of the season between these two teams being some of the most anticipated of the 2025-26 campaign so far, tonight was much different.
The Thunder had 10 players on the injury report and were unable to play on the second night of a back-to-back, which included all five of the team’s starters. As such, the Thunder only had five players from the 15-man roster and a trio of two-way players available, meaning eight members of the Thunder, primarily end-of-bench guys, with the exception of Cason Wallace and Aaron Wiggins, against a San Antonio team that was also missing a few pieces. Still, this was one of the most injury-riddled Thunder rosters we’ve seen in the past few years.
And while the Spurs did extend their lead to 20-plus points on Wednesday night, the Thunder kept chipping away and were only down by four in the clutch before San Antonio made a late run to put it away.
There’s not much to take away from a game like this from a team standpoint, but it was good to see multiple players step up. Aaron Wiggins had 20 points and was the team’s spark plug offensively in the first half. Kenrich Williams had 25 of his own. Jaylin Williams had 24 points and 12 rebounds. Brooks Barnhizer scored a career-high 14 points on 4-of-9 shooting from beyond the arc. And all eight guys who touched the floor scored.
It’s a game the Thunder will quickly forget and move on to the next one, which comes Saturday against the Houston Rockets.