Building a dynasty takes more than one ring.
It sounds obvious, but a year ago, after slipping on the middle finger, we were already setting the second ring on the ring finger of the Oklahoma City Thunder. A decision with a margin of error, we thought, about the thickness of a saffron thread.
The champions had the youngest rotation in the NBA, their best player had just won the MVP, the bench never ran out, and Sam Presti had enough first-round picks to organise a Draft from his living room. What could possibly stop them from repeating the glory?
Something so obvious we often leave it out: their rivals also play and reload to get better every summer. And in one of them there was – even among the unicorns – an anomaly of 2.24 metres ready to be their deadly Beleforonte. The Spurs and Wemby put a lock on the two-peat in the Conference Finals.
And here we are, a month later! The Thunder once again close out our previews (we hope you’ve kept up with the previous 29) as the team with the best record in the last regular season.
But this time the trophy went to New York. And San Antonio has reasons to feel ahead of, or at least neck and neck with, Oklahoma. The superiority that seemed destined to last a decade needs to rethink its message to shore up its candidacy and confirm that they are still the outright favourites.
Data, results from last campaign, a look at their 2026-27 squad, the goals for the season – which can only be the Larry O’Brien – the player to watch and a prediction for the franchise. Final stop. No more previews; let the ball bounce.
How they approach the season
64-18, the best record in the NBA and two sweeps to open the playoffs. Phoenix and the Lakers left without winning a game. Up to that point, the course was exactly as charted in the preseason coordinates.
Then came San Antonio, with just two fewer regular-season wins, and they took game seven in Oklahoma.
As deep as their squad was, injuries played their part in the explanation. Jalen Williams, a key piece in OKC’s previous success, barely managed 33 regular-season games, and neither he nor Ajay Mitchell was available for that decisive duel.
But it’s also worth remembering the 1-4 record against the Spurs during the regular season… the trembling had started earlier. A rival who could challenge them for size – aired any debate over whether Wemby or Chet – survive their suffocating pressure and come out on top without shying away from the head-on clash.
Daigneault, aware that the level has risen markedly in both the West and the East, will face this season with two simultaneous goals: charting a path that ensures, within the vagaries of chance, the healthiest version of his best players when the playoffs arrive, and finding answers that don’t depend solely on that to threats like a Spurs side that repeats with the force of a cyclone.
Departures and arrivals
And he will have to do it without Lu Dort, without Aaron Wiggins and without Isaiah Joe. The first two left for Atlanta and the third for Detroit. So out go defence, shooting and a familiarity with the system that had been built for years in an extraordinarily natural way. In return come second-round picks, room under the cap and minutes for those waiting in the wings and for those arriving via the Draft.
Two names, picks 12 and 16 and rivers of hope with Aday Mara and Bennett Stirtz. Isaiah Hartenstein stays on for three years and 75.5 million; Kenrich Williams is also staying. There have been no star signings, and none were needed. They have an MVP as conductor, a philosophy drawn from the fiercest Heat defensive culture and more than enough depth to keep boasting one of the richest rosters in the league.
Sam Presti sat back, and the Thunder are still deep in an abundant phase of collection.
For a while, Oklahoma enjoyed an almost obscene combination: players performing like stars while still being paid like prospects, thanks to a superb double act of deals and scouting. But that’s over. Now come the extensions for Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams, and Shai’s salary will rise again when his own kicks in in 2027.
The squad could not be kept intact at the same price, and the current salary rules – with the second apron always lurking – no longer allow the excesses of old.
Hence the sacrifices… Dort, an elite defender, Joe, an elite shooter, and Wiggins, an elite reserve. Which arm would you cut off without it hurting?
Still, they keep Hartenstein. Perhaps, had they been able to backtrack after seeing the preseason Aday Mara put together, they would not have. But having surplus is never really a surplus. His rebounding strength, his blocks, his endless tank of energy and his ability to keep the attack flowing are always a safeguard for the Thunder’s paint. With him, Holmgren plays without a leash and with a couple of notches less on his belt.
Squires for SGA
31.1 points, 6.6 assists, 55.3% from the field and his second consecutive MVP. At this stage it is hard to find a new way of explaining how extraordinary Gilgeous-Alexander is without it sounding like we’re copying last year’s paragraph.
His dominance has something maddening for those who suffer it. It is inevitable. Just as interesting will be seeing how he adapts to a rulebook that will no longer play so blatantly in his favour.
Primera de mil acciones “polémicas” de Shai que van a inundar las redes cada mañana de los próximos 9 meses Y fijaos que de todos los push con el antebrazo, este parece el menos castigable https://t.co/aPuaicDTEO
— nbamaniacs (@nbamaniacs) October 14, 2026
The risk for Oklahoma arises when that ease turns the other four into luxury spectators. Against a good defence, a second advantage can be worth more than another attempt by Shai to create the first from scratch. We saw it against San Antonio, where their offensive answer book is not especially creative or reactive.
That is why getting Jalen Williams back matters so much. He is Mario’s Luigi: a teammate who can also win the position off the dribble and force the defence to shift with him, creating mismatches in Shai’s favour and exploiting those Shai himself creates for the rest with his gravity.
Ajay Mitchell and Jared McCain – both in their third NBA season – are also ready for more with the ball, and Cason Wallace to honour Dort with whatever is put in front of him.
The biggest upgrade of this squad is therefore likely to come from the second unit, a product of its natural flourishing, which, if Daigneault handles it well, can take many minutes of fatigue off SGA in the regular season without giving up on winning sixty games, while also opening new avenues of attack simply by piling individual talent onto the floor.
Dort’s spot, an opportunity
Wallace, as I said earlier, is Dort’s natural replacement and is destined to fill his place in the starting five; though it would be a shame to reduce his season to ‘stand-in’ for the Canadian.
To begin with, he has much better hands to be more of a catch-and-shoot player, so if we mentioned Jalen, Jared and Ajay earlier as complements to the dribble, here is another one. With Caruso, when it comes to winning by suffocation, he will be the pairing that pushes the outside aggression tachometer into the red.
As breakout candidates – who will get their chances if OKC’s regular season is as smooth as expected – are the freshly drafted Stirtz and Nikola Topic. It would not be unusual for either of them to break out. Last season the surprise came from McCain, who was revived in the trade to the rookie we had seen flourish in Philly.
Aday Mara: proven facts
And if it is neither of those two, the one who does seem destined to go from breakout to confirmed in no time flat has Iberian blood and the nerve that comes from being raised in the teeth of the cierzo wind.
The big man, who turned his freshman year at UCLA into a vertical rise towards the lottery picks of the Draft, has closed out the preseason with 13.4 points, 7.6 rebounds, 2.8 assists and 2.4 blocks, shooting 78.8% from the field. And more than the numbers, since in the preseason everyone scores until they’re exhausted, it is the way those numbers came about.
A big man whose athletic look goes up several notches thanks to the virtue that is least abundant and most valued in the NBA: IQ. And how Aitor Darias has written about this in brilliant depth, here is his article.
The player to watch: Chet Holmgren
Two shots.
That is all Holmgren threw up in game seven against San Antonio. Two attempts in almost 33 minutes for a player who had just made the NBA’s third-team All-Defence and finished second in the Defensive Player of the Year voting.
A cruel aftertaste to guillotine an outstanding season.
But the photo exists. And Wembanyama is going to keep existing too. So, beyond progressing in every facet of the game, Chet’s challenge for this year and the years to come lies less in the technical than in the mental. To make sure that when the pressure arrives, the centre does not shrink like Ben Simmons’s wrist against the Hawks.
The point is not to go into the clash with testosterone flying… because he will lose. It will be his intelligence and composure that must take the reins in his decision-making to force the Frenchman to be present and to stop his head coach from taking him off the floor in search of small ball.
Leaving the Spurs aside, Holmgren, who is starting a new contract, faces this campaign with the task of becoming a co-leader on the floor, so autonomous and self-sufficient that it lets the Thunder know they have two compasses on the court and the guarantee that if Shai is not there, they have him.
Daigneault will have a lot to do with whether anything like this happens. With a usage 12 points lower than SGA’s, the ‘5’ has stretches of several possessions without getting involved or being as relevant as he could be, taking on his differential defensive impact without spending his offensive potential as fully as possible.
More initiative on his part in attack could change the way the opponent defends the entire team. If that happens, he will not only keep scoring his twenty points per game, but can also be a source of direct and indirect generation of just as many for his teammates.
He arrives for the opener with the added caution of a quad contusion that has kept him out of the entire preseason. His big test, in any case, is still quite a way off October.
The nbamaniacs prediction
For the title, general managers have voted San Antonio (50%) ahead of Oklahoma (43%).
I, however, lean more towards the Thunder reclaiming the throne. They have the double MVP, the best defence in the NBA and a rotation with enough individual talent to sustain them on the worst nights for their starters and even amid a sea of injuries. A 100% Jalen will give them more than any hypothetical signing and will be decisive in a series that goes down to the last round.
My prediction: 60-22 and NBA champions. The NBA, by the way, is a league that likes a bit of drama.
Aware of the curiosity they have to exploit, they were not going to hold it back: on the opening night of the 2026-27 basketball season, Oklahoma City Thunder vs. San Antonio Spurs. No more previews; let the ball bounce.
Previous team: San Antonio Spurs
(Cover photo by Alonzo Adams-Imagn Images)
