Oklahoma City Thunder center Chet Holmgren (7) shoots against San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) in the first half at Frost Bank Center.
Daniel Dunn-Imagn Images
The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder have formed a new rivalry with one another not only because they are two young championship contenders in the Western Conference, but simply because they are two teams that don't like one another. When you put them on the same court on Opening Night in the NBA, you may get some fireworks, and that's what happened in the second quarter during an on-court altercation.
After De'Aaron Fox forcefully threw Chet Holmgren to the ground while trying to gain the upper hand defending the Thunder big man with 9:21 remaining in the second quarter, the two teams immediately came together when Jaylin Williams came to the defense of his teammate.
This led to him shoving Fox out of the way and a whole lot more escalating.
Things began to spiral out of control, as Wembanyama got involved by getting in a pushing match with Williams, which led to Jalen Williams and Kenrich Williams also getting involved.
Things start to get chippy between the Thunder and Spurs 👀
The NBA is so back! pic.twitter.com/uumX58N7VF
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) October 21, 2026
Upon review, the officials assessed a flagrant foul 1 to Fox for the unnecessary shove to the ground on Holmgren, and then four individual technical fouls were handed out to Wembanyama and each of Jaylin, Jalen, and Kenrich Williams on Oklahoma City.
The rivalry between the Spurs and Thunder can be directly tied to Wembanyama and Holmgren, two young frontcourt stars who have been going at one another since they entered the league. As time has gone on, the animosity between these two has grown to new heights and has spread to their teammates.
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These two teams also met in the 2026 Western Conference Finals, a hard-fought series won by the Spurs in seven games, ending Oklahoma City's hopes of winning back-to-back championships.
Both the Thunder and Spurs are heavily regarded as two of the best teams in the NBA entering the 2026-27 season, which is why an Opening Night battle between the two was destined to feature plenty of hatred and the possibility of the two teams butting head on the court.
This isn't the first time these two championship contenders have been involved in an on-court scuffle, and it certainly won't be the last.