Thunder rivalry has vast change in stakes
OKLAHOMA CITY — The Spurs are in Oklahoma City on Wednesday night, and there was a time this would have been must-see NBA TV.
Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook and James Harden on the Thunder side. Tim Duncan, Tony Parker and Manu Ginobili suiting up for the Spurs.
The battles were intense, the stakes often epic.
“It was a great series to watch,” Spurs guard Doug Mcdermott recalls. “It was always going to be competitive.”
When the Spurs and Thunder meet Wednesday in Oklahoma City for the first time during the 2022-23 regular season, the stakes are still expected to be high — but for a different reason.
A decade ago, the Spurs and Thunder were perpetually wrestling for Western Conference supremacy.
Today it is a neck-and-neck race to the bottom of the standings, as two rebuilding teams grapple for the best draft pick possible next summer.
“Obviously, things are a little different now,” said Mcdermott, whose experience with the height of the Spurs-okc rivalry came as a fan.
The name Victor Wembanyama casts a gargantuan shadow over NBA matchups such as Wednesday’s at the Paycom Center.
The 7-foot-2 Frenchman is playing an ocean away in his home country, awaiting his coronation as a franchise-changing No. 1 NBA draft pick next June.
Teams that cannot make the playoffs — and that includes the Spurs and Thunder — are sali
vating at the opportunity to draft him.
So far, the Spurs (6-15) are slightly ahead of Oklahoma City (8-13) in that chase.
The Spurs enter Wednesday tied with Charlotte for the fourth-worst record in the NBA.
It is a decent starting position from which to angle for Wembanyama. Considering the Spurs arrived in Oklahoma City on a league-worst eightgame losing skid, there is a good chance their odds improve over time.
Spurs coach Gregg Popovich — who presided over those epic tussles with the Thunder of yesteryear — came into the season understanding the assignment.
“I said from the beginning of the season, the chances of a championship were not very good,” he said.
The trick for Popovich — and for Thunder coach Mark Daigneault as well — has been in convincing players that the standings aren't the only barometer of a successful campaign.
“These guys aren't ignorant,” Popovich said.
“They have wonderful bull(expletive) antennae. If you try to fool them or play some kind of game about that stuff, they're just going to roll their eyes.”
What a difference a decade makes.
The Spurs and Thunder collided for a trio of memorable playoff clashes in the 2010s.
In 2012, Oklahoma City overcame a 2-0 hole to win a Western Conference semifinal series, ending the Spurs' 20-game winning streak in the process.
The Spurs returned favor in 2014, claiming the conference finals in six games on their way to the club's fifth NBA title.
In 2016, the Thunder outlasted the Spurs in the second round, winning in six games in what turned out to be the final postseason series of Duncan's storied career.
“I remember watching those battles in the playoffs,” said Mcdermott, who spent 22 games with Oklahoma City in 2016-17. “It was a great series to watch, always.”
A few months after dispatching Duncan and the Spurs, the Thunder entered their rebuilding phase as Durant signed a free-agent deal with Golden State.
The Thunder still had Westbrook on the roster, and tried to cling to relevance for a few seasons by pairing him with another All-star — first Paul George and then Chris Paul. That led only to a string of first-round playoff ousters.
The Spurs' reconstruction project began with the departure of Kawhi Leonard in July of 2018. They tried staying competitive by pairing Lamarcus Aldridge with Demar Derozan, but by the summer of 2021 that partnership had run its course.
Both small-market clubs decided to sell their best players for a cache of draft
picks in an attempt to rebuild via youth.
Even as the losses mount during the first quarter of this season, Spurs players bristle at the notion that they are built to lose.
“We were counted out before the season even started, so what does it matter what the media says now?” Spurs forward Keldon Johnson said. “It doesn't really matter. This is what we love to do, no matter what anyone says.”
By stockpiling future draft picks, the Spurs are following in the Thunder's rebuilding footsteps.
The Oklahoma City roster includes six players drafted in the past two seasons, including four in the first round and three in the lottery.
One of those players — 2022 second overall pick Chet Holmgren — is out for the year with a foot fracture. Guard Josh Giddey was selected at No. 6 in 2021, while guard Jalen Williams was the 12th pick last June.
The Spurs are a bit behind the Thunder in the reconstruction process. Rookie forward Jeremy Sochan, drafted eighth out of Baylor, is the team's first top-10 pick since Duncan in 1997.
Meanwhile, the player who could be Oklahoma City's next linchpin star — point guard Shai Gilgeousalexander — arrived via the 2019 trade that delivered George to the L.A. Clippers.
Spurs forward Isaiah Roby, who spent his first three seasons in Oklahoma City before coming to San Antonio last summer, says both clubs have done well creating space for young players to flourish.
“I think both places do a really good job of letting their players explore their game,” Roby said. “A lot of growing comes from this experience, just trying stuff out, not being afraid to fail. That is something both teams really encourage their young guys to do.”
There was a time in which failure was not an acceptable option for those in Oklahoma City or San Antonio.
In a doomed season such as this — for both clubs — failure can be victory.
It makes Wednesday's Spurs-thunder meeting must-see NBA TV, only not in the way it used to be.