For the eighth consecutive year, the NBA will have a new champion.
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The longest streak of seasons with a different champion in NBA history extended Saturday when the reigning champion Oklahoma City Thunder were ousted in Game 7 of the Western Conference Finals by San Antonio, 111–103.
Victor Wembanyama had a team-high 22 points and seven rebounds in the win for San Antonio, which will now face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. It’s a rematch from 27 years ago, when these teams met in the ‘99 Finals won by San Antonio and its twin-tower duo of David Robinson and Tim Duncan, both former No. 1 overall draft picks.
This time around, the Spurs are led by another enormously talented big man in 7-foot-4 Victor Wembanyama, the sensational former No. 1 pick who has led his team to the Finals in his third NBA season, and only his first postseason appearance.
Saturday’s Game 7 was only Wembanyama’s 18th career postseason game. In seemingly a blink, the Wembanyana-led Spurs have already dethroned a Thunder team that looked primed to dominate the Western Conference for years thanks to its championship mettle and an exceptionally deep reserve of talent and draft picks.
“We want four more [victories], we’re not done,” Wembanyama told NBC Sports after the win. “Go Spurs, go!”
In Game 7, Oklahoma City was down two of its best offensive creators in the injured Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell. Early in the first quarter, the Thunder were down 14 points, and still trailed by 11 points with eight minutes left in the fourth quarter.
San Antonio found its edge in playing fast, scoring repeatedly in transition, and from guard De’Aaron Fox, who had nearly as many points in Game 7 (15) than in the previous two games combined.
But with seven minutes still to play, Oklahoma City saw a sliver of opportunity reopen again when Wembanyama drew his fifth foul, forcing him to play more conservatively on defense. Less than two minutes after San Antonio had grown its lead to 11 in the fourth, Oklahoma City trimmed it to just six.
Yet, the Thunder’s odds to repeat appeared to dwindle with four minutes left, when they had no timeouts left and trailed again by 11 points. San Antonio never let the Thunder pull off a comeback and in the process won the series after at one point trailing, 3-2.
Julian Champagnie scored 20 points in a surprise offensive outburst for San Antonio. Thirty-five points from two-time MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander weren’t enough to save Oklahoma City.
This is San Antonio’s first Finals appearance since 2015 and New York’s first since 1999. Game 1 is June 3 in San Antonio, followed by Game 2 on June 5. The series then returns to New York for the third and fourth games on June 8 and 10.
Both teams are playing under coaches who are only in their first full seasons.
Mitch Johnson was a San Antonio assistant before he was elevated to interim coach last season following a health scare by Gregg Popovich, the NBA’a all-time winningest coach. The interim tag was removed before this season.
One year ago, New York hired Mike Brown, who had previously coached Cleveland to the Finals, and later won NBA championships with Golden State as an assistant.
The Spurs will be facing a Knicks team that is on a historically dominant run, having won 11 consecutive games — the fifth-longest streak in a single postseason — by an average of 23.8 points. Yet, San Antonio should be well-prepared for the challenge, having beaten the reigning champion Thunder, which started this season 24-1 and swept its first two playoff opponents.
San Antonio’s road to the playoffs began with a first-round win against Portland before outlasting Minnesota in six games in the second round. San Antonio won the conference finals’ opening game, evened the series at 2-2 in Game 4, but faced the brink of elimination after losing in Game 5 before winning two straight to topple the team expected by many to win the NBA title.
After its 2024-25 championship season, the Thunder picked up immediately where they left off by starting this season 24-1. Gilgeous-Alexander was named the league’s most valuable player for the second consecutive season and helped Oklahoma City win its first two playoff series in four-game sweeps over the Phoenix Suns and Los Angeles Lakers.
