The Spurs are back in the Western Conference Finals, and they will find the Thunder waiting there. San Antonio clinched its spot by beating the Timberwolves in Game 6, setting up a thunder vs spurs matchup in the 2026 West Finals.
NBA.com writers were split on the series, but multiple picks went to Oklahoma City and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander as the likely Conference Finals MVP. One writer pointed to the Thunder’s experience and a healthy Jalen Williams as the difference, while another noted that Williams had been out for most of the playoffs and that the team had not been whole.
That matters because the Spurs are not just a veteran group trying to squeeze into a title race. One writer framed this as a young roster taking on the defending champions, with Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper listed at 22, 21 and 20 years old. The Spurs also come in with a jolt of confidence from the regular season and Emirates NBA Cup, when they won four of five meetings with Oklahoma City.
Those earlier results, though, came before the stage gets higher and the margin gets thinner. Gilgeous-Alexander averaged 29.5 points in the four games he played against the Spurs, and one writer said Oklahoma City’s offense scored 115.4 points per 100 possessions with him on the floor and 98.1 per 100 with him off it. That split captures why the Thunder are being treated as the safer pick: when their engine is running, the game tilts quickly.
There is still a path for San Antonio, and it runs through the middle. One writer said Chet Holmgren could put himself in MVP position if he has a big series at center, a reminder that the Thunder have multiple ways to decide a game. But the broader consensus leaned toward Oklahoma City, the reigning power in the West, and toward Gilgeous-Alexander as the player most likely to shape the series. For the Spurs, the question is not whether they belong on this stage. They proved that by getting here after missing the SoFi Play-In Tournament in 2025. The harder test is whether a young team can turn a strong regular-season case into a series that changes the balance of the West.
