One for Thirteen: Thunder Open Their Revenge Tour by Muzzling Wembanyama

The last time Oklahoma City left a game against San Antonio, it was Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals and the Spurs were ending the Thunder's title defense in their own building. Tuesday night's opener in San Antonio wasn't a Game 7, and it's one of 82. It still felt like a rebuttal.

Oklahoma City won 116-104, and the defining number was Victor Wembanyama's shooting line: 1-for-13 from the floor. Twelve points, thirteen rebounds, six blocks, four turnovers — a stat sheet that looks busy until you notice the one column that matters. Wembanyama went 0-for-4 from three and needed 12 free-throw attempts to scrape together double figures. Chet Holmgren, the player many had written off as an afterthought in this budding rivalry, spent the night as the primary answer, finishing with 14 points, seven rebounds and four blocks while going 8-for-8 at the line.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander did what a two-time MVP does: 32 points on 13-of-27 shooting, six rebounds, four assists, three steals and three blocks in 36 minutes. The supporting numbers were just as loud. Oklahoma City shot 14-of-31 from deep, piled up nine blocks and eight steals, and generated 42 points in the paint while turning it over only 11 times.

The game had teeth, too. De'Aaron Fox was assessed a flagrant foul for sending Holmgren to the floor early in the second quarter, the two sides scuffled, and technicals followed. For a team that spent the summer hearing about the Spurs' ascent, the message was less about a single October result and more about the physical terms on which this rivalry will now be played.

The depth question hasn't gone away

The win came with three young players unavailable — Otega Oweh, Thomas Sorber and Nikola Topic. Oweh is the significant loss: the rookie tore his Achilles in a preseason game against Indiana, required season-ending surgery, and becomes the latest entry in a genuinely strange run of rookie injury luck in Oklahoma City. His absence doesn't force an urgent roster move, but it does thin the development pipeline behind a rotation that already lists Jaylin Williams, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe and Ajay Mitchell among its injury concerns.

That matters because the regular season's real test isn't whether the Thunder can beat a contender at full strength in October. It's whether they can absorb 82 games of attrition and still be the team that finished last season ranked first in the league in both net rating (10.6) and defensive rating (108.4) while winning 75 of 97 games across the regular season and playoffs.

Denver arrives immediately

There's no soft landing. The Nuggets visit Thursday for Oklahoma City's home opener, bringing the one offense that gave the Thunder's defense real problems last season: Denver averaged 121.1 points per game and posted a 121.7 offensive rating against a league-wide backdrop, compared to Oklahoma City's 118.5 points and 119.0 offensive rating. The Thunder's counter was their edge on the defensive end — 108.4 to Denver's 117.2 — plus meaningful gaps in blocks (5.34 to 3.98) and steals (9.78 to 6.86).

Denver also spent the preseason living at the free-throw line, a product of a more physical offensive approach. Against a Thunder team that just showed it can swallow a superstar whole, that's the matchup to watch.

The bigger picture

One game doesn't validate a season, and the market hasn't fully bought in — Oklahoma City sits at +260 to win the championship at one book, with Gilgeous-Alexander at +375 for a third MVP. But the underlying case is intact: the best defense in the league, a superstar in his prime, and now a statement win over the team that knocked them out.

The revenge tour has a long way to run. It started about as well as Oklahoma City could have drawn it up.