The Oklahoma City Thunder entered the 2025–26 season with a clear mission. They wanted to prove that last year’s championship run was no fluke, and for the most part, their dominance has done just that. However, there is one team that has given them significant trouble: the San Antonio Spurs. Can they outperform the Thunder in the playoffs, however? Gilbert Arenas doesn’t think so.
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The Spurs’ pace, length, and physicality first disrupted OKC’s rhythm in the NBA Cup semifinals, handing them a loss on a big stage. To make matters worse, San Antonio then beat them twice more. OKC did get the better of them in their most recent meeting earlier today, but the damage had already been done. In the process, the Spurs appeared to expose small cracks in what once looked like an unstoppable force.
Many now believe the Spurs may be the team to beat in the West. Arenas, however, feels that the Spurs are a Kryptonite to the Thunder only because of one person and that’s Victor Wembanyama.
“They have a defender that stops SGA from doing what he wants to do right? You have Wemby. So if SGA is a mid-range guy and a guy who likes to get to the lane, he don’t shoot a lot of 3s, now you are entering the megalodon’s area. Now when SGA goes in there, he has to think about a guy who actually can defend what he’s doing,” said Gil on The Gilbert Arenas Show.
And it’s not just SGA that Wemby is disrupting, according to Arenas. It’s their own big, Chet Holmgren. “His matchup against Chet, he’s been dominating that one, which that takes Chet out the game. Because now Chet has a guy who has an advantage over him. Usually Chet has the advantage shooting his shot, he has somebody that trumps him.”
The problem, according to Arenas, is that regular season games don’t define how successful a team will be come the end of the post-season.
“There’s nobody out here saying Spurs is a championship team,” the former NBA star added. “They’re going to win a championship because they beat OKC in the regular season? Remember when the Bulls was winning? There was teams that beat them.”
Quickly, he spoke about the 2010s Golden State Warriors as well, who dominated the playoffs when it mattered the most.
“Don’t mean during postseason that is going to be the same story. Regular season is regular season. Postseason is postseason,” he continued.
The best of seven format is a grind. Any team can win a game, or even two. But outlasting an opponent over an entire series is what champions in this league are built on. That is the real litmus test waiting for both teams. The Spurs may have figured out how to frustrate OKC in short bursts, but playoff basketball is about counters, adjustments, and mental endurance as much as it is about matchups.
The Thunder have already shown they can evolve on the fly, and championship teams rarely remain vulnerable for long once a weakness is exposed. San Antonio may be the problem right now, but until they prove they can sustain that edge over a seven game war, OKC still deserves the benefit of the doubt, and for good reason.
