Inside The Spurs

NBA Offseason: Is Spurs-Thunder A True Budding Rivalry?

With the season just around the corner, both the San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder will be looking to achieve goals of their own. As much as it might seem that they'd intersect, however, it doesn't appear they do.

Matt Guzman

Feb 29, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) battle for position in the first half at Frost Bank Center.
Feb 29, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) and San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) battle for position in the first half at Frost Bank Center. / Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
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Before the ball leaves the referee's hands for the first time of the regular season in late October, the pressure surrounding Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and the San Antonio Spurs will be palpable.

Coming off a year where the youngest team in the NBA — before Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes entered the fold — notched just two more wins than Wembanyama's age, it was clear that the sky-high expectations placed on the Silver & Black in what's been deemed "The Wemby Era" were far from reached.

At least in Year 1.

San Antonio's offseason proved its willingness to remain patient with its team building and the general confidence it has in Wembanyama hasn't created any reason for panic, yet, but it should be taking a step forward in Year 2 of Wembanyama's Texas residency.

READ MORE: Why Spurs Traversed The Offseason The Right Way

As that goal either slips away or comes to fruition, there will be milestones to reach, games to watch and above all, storylines to follow with the Spurs' schedule.

Perhaps the most fluid? The supposed "rivalry" between the Spurs and Thunder.

What initially seemed like such between Wembanyama and Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren — marked by a showdown between the pair in the NBA's "Rivals Week" — has since been taken off the docket.

San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) greet each other.
Jan 24, 2024; San Antonio, Texas, USA; San Antonio Spurs center Victor Wembanyama (1) and Oklahoma City Thunder forward Chet Holmgren (7) greet each other before the game at Frost Bank Center. / Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images

Rivals week, instead of giving either the Thunder or Spurs a chance to face off, now consists of 10 matchups, many of which see repeat teams with multiple rivals.

For instance, the Denver Nuggets and Nikola Jokić will face the Philadelphia 76ers and their star Joel Embiid in a battle of the bigs, but they'll also face the Minnesota Timberwolves and Anthony Edwards later in the week. LeBron James' Los Angeles Lakers will play the Boston Celtics in a historic rivalry showdown, but also face Stephen Curry and the Golden State Warriors.

Wembanyama helped the Spurs land their first Christmas Day game in eight years, which says enough about how highly the NBA views him as a future superstar, but with no "rival" this year, it does pose an interesting question about whether or not rivalries have to be organically created.

The Nuggets-Timberwolves matchup wasn't so much a rivalry as it was a good matchup, until last season's playoffs. The same goes with the Dallas Mavericks and Boston Celtics, both of whom don't have any long-standing history beyond their face off in the most recent NBA Finals.

READ MORE: Can Offseason Additions Lift Wembanyama, Spurs in NBA Cup?

The Spurs and Thunder faced off four times last season — three of which featured both Holmgren and Wembanyama — and the former won just one of those matchups. This season, there are three more matchups in the cards, none of which will be during the third iteration of Rivals Week.

Part of that decision might be that both teams need to be competitive on their own in order to create a true "rivalry." Or perhaps both players need to see it as a rivalry themselves.

So far, neither of those are true.

“I don't think Wemby was unfair in winning Rookie of the Year or anything," Holmgren said in an unsurprisingly praiseful comment about Wembanyama. "I mean, all credit to him for a great season and everything ... and you know, we're not rookies anymore.” 

The Spurs and Thunder will enter next season with goals of their own. Oklahoma City is looking to prove that it's success can only continue to grow — which would no longer be a surprise — while San Antonio will be hoping to crack the cusp of contention period.

As much as it seems those goals intersect with matchups against one another, they don't appear to. And if a rivalry is indeed brewing between the two young teams, perhaps it'll be featured next season.

For now, it isn't being seen that way. At least not by the NBA.

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Matt Guzman
MATT GUZMAN

Matt Guzman is a sports journalist and storyteller from Austin, Texas. He serves as a credentialed reporter and site manager for San Antonio Spurs On SI and a staff writer for multiple collegiate sites in the same network. In the world of professional sports, he is a firm believer that athletes are people, too, and intends to tell stories of players and teams’ true, behind-the-scenes character that otherwise would not be seen through strong narrative writing, hooking ledes and passionate words.

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