The first game of the 2026-27 campaign for the OKC Thunder will be played against the same team they faced in their final outing last season: the San Antonio Spurs.
Considering their playoff series went the distance to seven games, coupled with the fact that they had already squared off on five separate occasions before the playoffs even began, many have pegged these two clubs as the league's newest rivalry.
Thunder guard Cason Wallace seems to completely agree with such a narrative, and his recent spiel on the matter only ups the odds that game one of this upcoming season should see some red-hot intensity right out of the gates.
Cason Wallace says 'competitive spirit' has Thunder eager to beat Spurs
During a recent appearance on Cousins with Vice Carter & Tracy McGrady, Wallace admitted that the Thunder and Spurs are "absolutely" a rivalry, and acknowledged that, unfortunately, "I feel like they've got the best of us" this past year.
In 12 total matchups, San Antonio came away from head-to-head matchups handily victorious with an 8-4 record and a point differential of plus-52.
Fortunately, instead of sulking and hanging their heads, it seems the majority of Thunder players have been putting in the work to position themselves for a better outcome in 2026-27.
In fact, according to Wallace, they all seem eager for redemption against San Antonio, as he said: "Our competitive spirit is like, yo, we got to beat them."
Fortunately for OKC, they get to kick off the year with a shot to get exactly that and, in turn, set the tone early, as their season opener is set for October 20 out in San Antonio.
Chet Holmgren should be hungrier than any Thunder to get redemtion
While this entire Thunder team should be champing at the bit as they await their chance at redemption against the Spurs, no individual member of the club should be hungrier to do so than Chet Holmgren.
Despite having easily the best season of his career to date, where he posted 17.1 points, 8.9 rebounds and 1.9 blocks on 55.7 percent shooting from the floor and 36.2 percent shooting from deep and earned All-Star, All-NBA, and All-Defensive nods, all the praise for and excitement surrounding the big man completely evaporated following his playoff showdown against the Spurs.
In their seven-game series, Holmgren seemed incredibly timid and completely devoid of confidence, ultimately finishing with mediocre averages of 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 1.1 blocks while shooting a putrid 27.3 percent from deep.
He hit rock bottom in their win-or-go-home Game 7, where he posted just four points on two shot attempts when Oklahoma City desperately needed someone other than Shai Gilgeous-Alexander to step up in the scoring department.
His performance was so bad that noteworthy pundits like Stephen A. Smith have gone as far as to say that it was "automatic grounds for a trade," and specifically argued that "they should have traded for Giannis just because of what happened with Chet Holmgren."
Hopefully, Chet is using this slander as fuel for an even better go-around this coming campaign. All signs point to him gearing up to do exactly that.
Let's see if he can come out strong during the Thunder's conference finals rematch on opening night.
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