The Oklahoma City Thunder concluded the NBA's slate of Tuesday season opener matchups, defeating the San Antonio Spurs 116-104.
The Spurs still have the bragging rights after defeating the Thunder to reach last year's NBA Finals. But that doesn't mean they should be considered the favorite this time around.
The Thunder are not only healthier, but they're also better equipped to deal with Spurs superstar Victor Wembanyama. OKC now has a handful of bodies in the frontcourt to throw at Wembanyama over the course of the game. They have two seven-footers to match up with Wembanyama in the starting lineup: Isaiah Hartenstein and Chet Holmgren. They also have Jaylin Williams as well as recent No. 12 overall pick Aday Mara as options to bring off the bench to maintain that size.
Mara didn't look like a rookie in his limited action of 12 minutes. There's even a chance that he ultimately presents Mark Daigneault with the best matchup to contain Wembanyama in the coming seasons at 7-foot-3, 262 pounds. OKC's season opener gives teams around the league a blueprint for what it takes to beat Wembanyama and the Spurs.
Thunder’s Victor Wembanyama blueprint is good news for the Blazers
It's easier said than done, but the key is throwing all these different options at him in the frontcourt while winning the guard play battle. You're not winning the center battle, so that advantage has to come elsewhere. The problem is few teams in the league are defeating the guard trio of Dylan Harper, De'Aaron Fox, and Stephon Castle.
The Thunder are able to say that's the case with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Cason Wallace, Ajay Mitchell, Jared McCain, Bennett Stirtz, and Nikola Topic -- they have so many guards they don't even know what to do with. Ultimately, GM wizard Sam Presti decided to continue stockpiling assets. They even successfully managed to somehow have more picks than he even knows what to do with, too.
While no team is as well run as the Thunder under Presti, you do get a sense that the Blazers are following a successful contender formula under GM Joe Cronin.
It was a surprising offseason in Portland that saw them lose multiple wings and forwards without any clear replacements. Matisse Thybulle joined the Los Angeles Lakers in free agency, while Jerami Grant and Kris Murray were packaged to Memphis in the Ja Morant deal.
Portland was a team of point guards and centers for the most part. But look at the Thunder roster, and it's suddenly easier to see Cronin's vision.
Thunder success make it easier to understand Joe Cronin's vision
OKC lost Aaron Wiggins, Isaiah Joe, and Lu Dort. Look at their depth chart currently on ESPN, specifically the second string. 6-foot-5, 186 pound guard Alex Caruso is the team's backup power forward. 6-foot-3, 195 pound guard Cason Wallace is the backup small forward.
It's similar to what the Blazers envision Jrue Holiday to be in his sixth man role, as that versatile guard capable of playing bigger than his height would suggest. We even saw him holding his own against Wembanyama for stretches in the Blazers' first-round playoff series against the Spurs.
San Antonio is such a uniquely constructed roster built around a 7-foot-4 big the league has never seen before. Presti and the Thunder know their path to the Finals runs through the Spurs for potentially even the next decade. He continues to assemble his roster accordingly, heavily emphasizing guard play and frontcourt options to throw at Wembanyama.
It's reminiscent of how the Minnesota Timberwolves' president of basketball operations, Tim Connelly, was formerly with the Denver Nuggets and knew that the path to the Finals would eventually run through his draft gem, Nikola Jokic. He constructed his roster accordingly, specifically bringing in Rudy Gobert. That ultimately worked out in their favor. The Wolves reached consecutive Western Conference Finals, defeating the defending champion Nuggets in the second round in 2024.
Portland faces an uphill battle in this rebuild as a team that finds itself on both the same timeline and in the same conference as the generational talent that is Wembanyama. The only team scarier right now in this league is the Thunder, who seem to be learning how to best attack this Spurs roster.
Again, that’s easier said than done, but it does help make better sense of the confusing offseason that Cronin and the Blazers just had. OKC’s win over Wembanyama and the Spurs is a promising sign that Portland's unique roster construction is actually what it takes to survive the West.
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