Of the six teams scheduled to play on the NBA's opening-day slate, only the OKC Thunder face a must-win scenario.
Now, there's no question that this kind of phrasing is curious to see right out of the gate.
After all, with 81 games left on the docket following Tuesday's festivities, it's hard to fathom a club feeling serious pressure to claim a W on night one.
However, the Thunder aren't just looking to pull away victorious -- they're trying to put to rest the notion that San Antonio has become their kryptonite
Thunder must make the most of long-awaited Spurs rematch
Across both regular season and playoff action, Oklahoma City squared off against the Spurs a total of 12 times last year, with the latter pulling out a 4-8 series win, including a 4-3 victory in the 2026 Western Conference Finals.
For Thunder fans, the reasons why Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and company came up so short in these head-to-heads are painfully obvious. With the injuries to guys like Jalen Williams (wrist, hamstring) and Ajay Mitchell (core, calf), OKC simply never had a fully healthy rotation at any point last season, let alone against the Spurs.
Of course, even with their sub-full-strength lineups, they still brought San Antonio all the way to Game 7 of the conference finals.
Despite all this well-known information, a popular debate from this past summer was whether the Spurs had finally surpassed OKC as top dogs in the West. The Thunder have waited five months to get their rematch and now finally have a healthy J-Dub and Mitchell in the fold.
To stop this chatter in its tracks, they must come out swinging and topple San Antonio right away. Otherwise, the noise will only grow even louder, as the Thunder will need to wait another four months for a redo.
Thunder will have their 'Victor Wembanyama stopper' ready to go
Back in June, the Thunder were believed to have drafted their solution to stopping Spurs star Victor Wembanyama with Michigan product, Aday Mara.
Measuring in at a ridiculous 7-foot-3, 250 pounds and boasting an impressive two-way skill set that allows him to dominate inside on both ends of the ball, excitement surrounding the 21-year-old's arrival in the Sooner State was real right from the jump, and only grew as the preseason played on.
Over the last couple of weeks, however, concerns about his availability for OKC's season opener surfaced, as his former overseas employer, Spanish team Basket Zaragoza, argued they held his playing rights and were planning to block any international clearance until a financial settlement was reached.
Fortunately, it seems the Thunder have confidently unearthed a way to defuse any and all fear stemming from this report, as a team spokesperson quickly addressed the situation by revealing that Mara's NCAA tenure canceled out any need for approval from Basket Zaragoza for him to play in the NBA.
With this, Thunder fans are now officially set to see their hopeful Wemby stopper match up right against the Spurs star to kick off his new career in the association.
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