To The Athletic's Sam Vecenie, the OKC Thunder have a "Victor Wembanyama problem" on their hands.
Considering the way he personally dominated them in their recent Western Conference Finals bout, coupled with the fact that he and the Spurs are still so young, the belief is that San Antonio will prove to be a thorn in Oklahoma City's side for many years to come.
Of course, despite Vecenie's idea of drafting someone like, say, Kentucky big Jayden Quaintance to potentially solve this so-called dilemma, the truth is that finding a solution may not require adding a new player to their arsenal at all.
Instead, sustaining health may very well be the only thing this Thunder team really needs to find its answer for Wemby and the Spurs.
Thunder need health, not necessarily reinforcements, to topple Spurs
2025-26 was a season marred by injuries for the Thunder.
From Jalen Williams missing 49 games to Shai Gilgeous-Alexander being sidelined for nearly a full month of action during the time around the February All-Star break, myriad injuries plagued OKC throughout this year's campaign.
Unfortunately, these issues persisted throughout their postseason run, with key guys like J-Dub (hamstring) and Ajay Mitchell (calf) both missing a number of highly meaningful games, many of which came in round three against Wembanyama and the Spurs.
Despite these noteworthy absences, however, Oklahoma City still was able to sweep through their first two rounds of action and went the distance with the eventual conference champion Spurs, losing by just eight in Game 7 during the West finals.
In the end, on the series as a whole, San Antonio outscored the Thunder 789 to 763, a difference of just 26 points.
Even with everything that Wembanyama was able to accomplish throughout this seven-game slug fest, the aforementioned point differential could have realistically been overcome had OKC had the likes of Williams and Mitchell in the fold, as each averaged 17.1 points and 13.6 points, respectively, on the year.
With all of this in mind, it's quite easy to see why, despite the loss, this Thunder team as constructed should still be mightily confident in their chances of besting San Antonio if and when they come across them in any future playoff bouts.
This M.A.S.H unit version of the Thunder gave a completely intact Spurs squad a real run for their money in the conference finals. It's easy to assume that, at full strength, they should be able to topple the newest conference kings.
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