Thunder Open Their Title Defense With a Statement, Blow Past Spurs 116-104
Oklahoma City kicked off its bid to repeat as NBA champions with a dominant road win over San Antonio on opening night, the third and final result from a busy Tuesday that also saw Detroit stun Boston and Philadelphia spoil New York's banner celebration.
The defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder opened their title defense in style Tuesday night, beating the San Antonio Spurs 116-104 on the road to cap a three-game opening night slate across the NBA.
Oklahoma City enters the season as the favorite to repeat after beating the Indiana Pacers in seven games to win the 2025 title, the franchise's second championship and first since relocating to Oklahoma City. Reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and a roster largely intact from last year's title run made the Thunder the preseason favorite again, with BetMGM Sportsbook installing them as the team to beat heading into the new campaign. Repeating as champion is historically difficult — only the 2017-18 Golden State Warriors have managed it in the last decade — but Tuesday's result was the kind of businesslike road win teams built for a long title defense are supposed to get.
A loaded opening night
The Thunder-Spurs result was the third and final game of opening night, after two Eastern Conference games earlier in the evening delivered their own fireworks. The Detroit Pistons stunned the Boston Celtics 121-113 at home, while the Philadelphia 76ers spoiled a banner-raising night in New York, beating the Knicks 106-100 in LeBron James's debut with his new team after signing with Philadelphia in the offseason.
REPEATING IS HARD — ONLY ONE FRANCHISE HAS DONE IT IN THE PAST DECADE.
For San Antonio, the loss is a modest early setback in what the organization hopes is a step forward this season after the Spurs continued building around their young core. The Thunder's margin of victory — 12 points on the road, against a team with real optimism of its own — was exactly the kind of result a title favorite is supposed to deliver in a game that otherwise carries little weight beyond the standings.
What's next
Oklahoma City continues its road-heavy opening stretch in the coming days as it looks to build early-season rhythm, while the rest of the league begins the long 82-game grind toward the playoffs. Last season's 24-1 start — which tied the 2015-16 Golden State Warriors for the best 25-game start in NBA history — set an almost impossibly high bar for OKC to match again, but Tuesday's win was at least a clean, drama-free start to the title defense the Thunder set out to begin.