After five months of patiently waiting, the OKC Thunder were finally able to exact revenge against the Spurs after they bounced them from the 2026 Western Conference Finals, besting San Antonio by a final score of 116-104 on opening night.
Needless to say, this outcome and Oklahoma City's overall performance certainly have fans and pundits alike hyped up. The Ringer's Bill Simmons is now confidently saying the Thunder are still "the team to beat" despite the widespread belief that San Antonio figured them out a year ago, while OKC now stands alone as the league's top title favorite.
However, in the midst of hearing all this praise-filled noise and overall excitement, superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is actively trying to bring everyone back down to reality.
When asked what he feels about besting the Thunder's budding rival in the season opener, Gilgeous-Alexander quickly downplayed the situation, saying, "This game doesn't really mean that much," and continued on to highlight how, in the grand scheme of things, it was nothing more than just the first game of the season.
An NBA campaign is a long and arduous 82-game journey, with a minimum of 16 games tacked on top of that should one be hoping to run the playoff gauntlet and lay claim to the Larry O'Brien Trophy.
So while getting a win over the same team that ended their title-repeat hopes last season may be rousing, there are still 81 games left to be played.
As SGA noted postgame, OKC is simply "trying to get better" every single day. Clearly, their sights are now set on being the best version of themselves for Thursday's bout against the Nuggets.
Thunder star Jalen Williams still hasn't found his shooting stroke
Fortunately, Gilgeous-Alexander is right, and there are 81 more games still to be played this season. Jalen Williams will likely need them to find a way to snap out of his year-long shooting slump.
Since undergoing surgery to repair a torn scapholunate ligament in his right wrist two summers ago, the Thunder star has severely struggled with his shooting efficiency.
In 33 games played last season, Williams shot a middling 37.3 percent from the mid-range and an even worse 29.9 percent from deep.
While we may only be one game into the 2026-27 campaign, this inefficiency seems to have carried over, as he shot a putrid 25.0 percent in the mid-range against the Spurs and often passed up perimeter scoring looks during his 30 minutes of action.
During his seasons prior to surgery, Williams established himself as a highly effective shooter, as he boasted splits of .513/ .382/ .803. It goes without saying that this skill set is still in his bag of tricks. He just needs to find his groove once again.
Unfortunately, it may take Dub some more time to shake off the rust that seemingly formed from both his operation and an injury-plagued 2025-26 season.
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