Jared McCain made his first career playoff start and scored 20 points, 18 of them in the second half, as the Oklahoma City Thunder beat the San Antonio Spurs 127-114 in Game 5 of the Western Conference Finals on Tuesday night ET. The win gave Oklahoma City a 3-2 lead and put the Thunder one victory from a second straight NBA Finals trip.
McCain had arrived in Oklahoma City at the February deadline in the trade that sent him from the Philadelphia 76ers for a late 2026 first-round pick and three second-round selections. He had averaged 10.4 points and 2.1 rebounds across 30 regular-season games with the Thunder, but this was the kind of night that turns a useful addition into a talking point across the league.
He also made the trade debate harder to dismiss. Philadelphia executive Daryl Morey defended the deal by saying the 76ers had sold high, yet McCain’s playoff surge in Oklahoma City has made that defense look thinner with each game. The framing has already started to change from one about draft assets to one about whether the Thunder got a player with a much higher ceiling than the return suggested. For a trade that had already drawn attention, that matters more now that the postseason has put McCain on a bigger stage.
The Thunder needed it, too, after a flat Game 4 that produced their lowest scoring output since 2021. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander scored 33 points and had nine assists and two steals, while Alex Caruso added 22 points, six assists and three steals in 28 minutes. San Antonio got 24 points from Stephon Castle, 22 from Julian Champagnie and 20 points, six rebounds and three blocks from Victor Wembanyama, but it was not enough to stop Oklahoma City from pushing the Spurs to the edge of elimination.
San Antonio now needs two straight wins to keep its season alive, and Oklahoma City has the chance to finish the series before the pressure shifts again. McCain’s role has grown fast since the trade, and if this run keeps going, the question is no longer whether the Thunder got value in February. It is whether they got far more than they thought they were buying.
