SAN ANTONIO — The last time these two teams played ended in tears.
Like many other things, Victor Wembanyama paced the San Antonio Spurs. Ever the empath, the Frenchman allowed his emotions to take over. He wept in the arms of his teammates.
A year before his squad defeated the Oklahoma City Thunder in the Western Conference Finals in a Game 7 on the road, Wembanyama sat at home, barely three months into recovering from deep vein thrombosis that kept him off the court until mid-July.
This time around, he'd taken another step toward accomplishing the goal he set for himself when he was drafted by the Spurs in 2023. He even cried at the podium talking about it.
"I want to win so bad," Wembanyama explained. "It's like my life depends on it."
The heartbreak that followed in the NBA Finals was enough to motivate the Spurs through the shortest offseason most of them had ever experienced. Losing the championship series to the New York Knicks in five games buried their hopes for a sixth title.
Their reward for making it that far, as they prepare for what could be another eight months of basketball in 2026-27? A national TV date with the Thunder on opening night.
At this point, neither side is pushing back against terming this matchup a rivalry. Twelve meetings between the regular season and playoffs just might have done the trick.
"There's always animosity when you play a team 12 times in a year," Dylan Harper said.
Last December, when the Spurs took their second victory over the Thunder in as many tries, Wembanyama offered his two cents on what makes a rivalry. His qualifiers were a packed arena, a "different" kind of energy and physicality lasting all 48 minutes. All of those things are to be expected at Frost Bank Center Tuesday night.
"There's a little bit more time before we get there," Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said in an interview with NBC Sports on Tuesday, citing the Boston Celtics and Los Angeles Lakers as the epitome of a rivalry. "I'd say we're in the first round of the boxing match."
San Antonio first traveled to Oklahoma City nursing several cuts and bruises. De'Aaron Fox sat out Games 1 and 2, while Dylan Harper left Game 2 early. The Thunder, meanwhile, played all of the Conference Finals without Ajay Mitchell and most without Jalen Williams.
Both teams will be, for the most part, healthy for their first meeting since May. Only Tobias Harris and Jayden Quaintance will sit for the Spurs, while Nikola Topić, Thomas Sorber and Otega Oweh will ride the bench for the Thunder. The Spurs have their work cut out for them.
“It's going to be physical," Castle said during practice on Monday. "They're going to play fast, as they always do … they're a good team. They're going to make some tough shots."
Sporting a new three-guard starting lineup against the Thunder presents an obvious concern about size: Harper, Fox and Stephon Castle will be tasked with boxing out Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein and Thunder rookie Aday Mara on the boards.
With two preseason games under their belts, they'll lean on that experience facing the most challenging matchup they've seen since the lineup debuted six days ago.
"Rebounding," Castle said, asked about the size disparity. "I think that's really the only problem we have with any type of big lineup. But I wouldn't even say it's a problem. I think if we all buy into it and (are) just really focusing on it, I think we'll be fine."
For all of the adjustments San Antonio has made, the Thunder remains a familiar opponent. Both teams return much of the personnel responsible for their seven-game playoff series, though Spurs coach Mitch Johnson doesn't expect the similarities to guarantee either side an advantage. He isn't expecting a carbon-copy of last year's Thunder, either.
"Both programs have a lot of the similar faces," Johnson said. "I didn't try to reinvent the wheel. I'm sure Mark (Daigneault) didn't come up with a whole new program over the offseason. I don't think ... that we'll have direct carryover from when we saw them last year."
Castle, however, believes the experience will be valuable in individual matchups. After seven games of studying Oklahoma City's tendencies in the postseason, he has a better understanding of what to expect. He plans to resort to the same mindset regardless.
"At the end of the day, it's basketball," he said. "We're not playing against robots. Having the mental side of it definitely helps, but it's more of a tendency thing — what guys like to do when they get in a certain spot. Whether they like to go right more or left more."
Familiarity may help, but the Spurs are approaching the first game of their regular season the same way they did seven straight times in May. Their previous victories mean little now.
"They won a championship two years ago," Harper said. "You've got to take them serious."
For Wembanyama, the memories of the Conference Finals aren't particularly distant. Neither is the disappointment of falling three victories short of the championship he wants. But getting another opportunity means enduring this so-called "boxing match" with the Thunder on Tuesday, then twice more during the regular season.
In that case, fine. Strap on the gloves.
"That season just ended, it feels like," Wembanyama said. "But no. Actually, we've had the time to settle down and retrain and get excited again for this. So we're ready."
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