2026 NBA playoffs: Spurs-Thunder Game 7 preview, picks, X factorsNBA InsidersMultiple AuthorsMay 29, 2026, 08:45 AM ET
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The San Antonio Spurs and Oklahoma City Thunder are going to seven games in the Western Conference finals.
Victor Wembanyama and the Spurs — facing elimination in Game 6 in San Antonio — took down the defending NBA champions 118-91, with Wembanyama leading the way with 28 points and 10 rebounds in just 28 minutes. Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, meanwhile, struggled, shooting 6-of-18 and putting up just 15 points. Oklahoma City was minus-28 in Gilgeous-Alexander’s 28 minutes on the floor.
The Spurs and Thunder will play Game 7 on Saturday (8 p.m. ET, NBC/Peacock) in Oklahoma City, with the winner taking on the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals. If the Spurs win, they’d make their first Finals appearance since 2014. If the Thunder win, they’d become the first team to reach consecutive Finals since the Golden State Warriors made five straight from 2015 to 2019. This is now the first conference finals Game 7 between top-three MVP finishers (Wembanyama and Gilgeous-Alexander) since Larry Bird and Julius Erving in 1982.
ESPN NBA reporters and analysts Ben Golliver, Zach Kram, Tim MacMahon and Michael C. Wright break down what happened in Game 6 and look ahead to Game 7. Plus, our staff makes its picks for what should be an incredible final game in the series:
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Game 7 picks
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What surprised you most about Game 6?
Kram: The Spurs don’t typically run their offense through the 3-point line, but they came out firing from deep in Game 6. Fourteen of their 23 first-quarter field goal attempts were 3s, and through three quarters, exactly half of their attempts (33 of 66) came from distance.
Early makes from Wembanyama and Devin Vassell helped open up San Antonio’s offense and prevent the Thunder from ever taking a lead in Game 6.
What surprised you least about Game 6?
Golliver: Wembanyama’s big response. After going scoreless in the first eight minutes of San Antonio’s Game 5 loss and skipping out on his postgame interview, a refocused Wembanyama pulled up to the arena in an Eid al-Adha robe and got straight to work.
The 2026 Defensive Player of the Year scored 11 of his game-high 28 points in the first quarter and exceeded the 20 points he scored in Game 5 by halftime. With Wembanyama back to dominating, San Antonio blew Oklahoma City off the court in the third quarter with a 20-0 run to cruise to the wire-to-wire win.
What stat sticks out most from Game 6?
Golliver: Gilgeous-Alexander still can’t buy a bucket. With the memorable exception of a feathery baseline jumper over Wembanyama in the third quarter, the back-to-back MVP spent most of Game 6 looking annoyed with his subpar play.
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After shooting a career-best 60.2% on 2-point attempts during the regular season, Gilgeous-Alexander is hitting just 40.9% of those shots in the Western Conference finals and has shot 40% or worse from the field in five of the six games. What’s more, Gilgeous-Alexander, an automatic scorer who has topped 20 points in 140 straight regular-season games and counting, has failed to crack 20 twice in the past three games.
Kram: Dylan Harper averaged 14.7 points per game in the second round and scored 24 points in Game 1 of the conference finals. But while dealing with a right adductor injury, he had scored just 18 points total in Games 3 through 5 in this series.
So it was a huge bonus for San Antonio that Harper was back in form Thursday, scoring 18 points on 6-for-9 shooting, with a plus-18 differential in 22 minutes.
Gilgeous-Alexander was ineffective in Game 6. Can the Thunder win Game 7 if he isn’t the best player on the floor?
Golliver: Oklahoma City’s unsung heroes have done more than their fair share in this series, but it’s time for Gilgeous-Alexander to start playing like the MVP.
Although he has been mired in a shooting slump during the Western Conference finals, he came up big in two Game 7 wins at home last season. In the second round, he scored a game-high 35 points to outduel Nikola Jokic and knock out the Denver Nuggets. And, after Tyrese Haliburton was injured in the last game of the Finals, Gilgeous-Alexander brought home the title with a game-high 29 points and 12 assists.
Kram: Role players and schemes and strategic adjustments matter, but sometimes playoff basketball reduces down to a battle between stars. In this series, the Thunder are 3-0 when Gilgeous-Alexander scores at least as many points as Wembanyama, while the Spurs are 3-0 when Wembanyama outscores the two-time MVP. It’s reasonable to expect that trend to continue in Game 7.
Who is the biggest X factor in Game 7?
Golliver: The Spurs were able to generate enough offense in their past two home wins despite De’Aaron Fox’s underwhelming play, but they will need their most experienced guard to rise to the moment on the road.
Fox missed the first two games of the West finals with an ankle injury, and he hasn’t looked fully healthy at any point of the series. The two-time All-Star has played in one previous Game 7, scoring 16 points on 5-for-19 shooting for the Sacramento Kings in a 2023 first-round loss to the Golden State Warriors.
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Kram: Jalen Williams made a surprising return from a hamstring strain in Game 6 yet didn’t make an impact in 10 minutes off the bench. Williams went 0-for-1 from the field and scored just one point while committing two turnovers; the Thunder were outscored by 18 points in his brief time on the court.
But Oklahoma City’s biggest problem in its losses has been a lack of offensive oomph. Can Williams help generate more points in Game 7 when the Spurs shade their defense toward Gilgeous-Alexander?
The Thunder will win Game 7 if ______.
Kram: Their experience shines through. The Spurs have never looked cowed by the moment in this postseason, but Game 7s offer newly heightened stakes. They tend to be tighter and tenser and lower scoring than the average playoff game. With two Game 7 wins last postseason, Oklahoma City knows how to handle those circumstances.
The inexperienced Spurs seizing a Game 7 win on the road, over the defending champs, would be a monumental — but achievable — feat.
The Spurs will win Game 7 if ______.
Golliver: Wembanyama continues to outplay Gilgeous-Alexander, their hot perimeter shooting travels and their guards take better care of the basketball. Still, this will be a tall order: Oklahoma City is 6-1 at home during the 2026 playoffs after going 11-2 at home during last year’s title run. Remarkably, the Thunder’s only loss this year came in double overtime — in Game 1 against the Spurs — and their 2025 losses were both on last-second shots.
Getting the chance to host Game 7 at Paycom Center is why Oklahoma City never let its foot off the gas during the regular season despite a list of injuries to key players. Spurs coach Mitch Johnson should remind his young team that it dealt the Thunder one of their seven home losses during the regular season.
What’s the feeling around the Thunder heading into Game 7?
MacMahon: Some of the Thunder’s players, including Gilgeous-Alexander, seemed loose, cracking jokes in the locker room only minutes after the lopsided loss.
One can only imagine the frustration Jalen Williams felt after he struggled so mightily in his return after missing the previous three games with a hamstring injury. But he left the media to guess, slipping out of the locker room while a teammate was talking to reporters to avoid inquiries. It remains to be seen whether coach Mark Daigneault is confident enough in a clearly hampered Williams to rely on him to play a significant role in Game 7.
What’s the feeling around the Spurs heading into Game 7?
Wright: San Antonio oozes confidence wrought by familiarity through 11 head-to-head matchups between the regular season and the playoffs between the teams. “When we see adversity and our backs are against the wall, we perform,” Stephon Castle reported. “Not just performing, playing well, making shots. Our energy is always in the right places. When we’re desperate like that, I’m probably the most confident.”
Now, both teams find themselves in the position to see their seasons come to an end with a loss, and the Spurs find comfort in that position for a road battle to close the series.
“It’s one game,” Julian Champagnie reported. “You beat us or we’re going to beat you.”
How would a Game 7 loss affect the Thunder’s offseason ahead?
MacMahon: That might be a question that only Clay Bennett, the franchise’s majority owner, can answer with any certainty. The Thunder’s offseason decisions will primarily come down to Bennett’s financial pain threshold as Oklahoma City enters the deep end of luxury tax territory with the maximum contract extensions for Williams and Chet Holmgren beginning.
Two starters — Luguentz Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein — have team options worth nearly a combined $47 million. Do the Thunder need to defend their title to justify bringing back both of them?
How would a Game 7 loss affect the Spurs’ offseason ahead?
Wright: It would strengthen San Antonio’s resolve to continue building on the unexpected run it embarked on with a roster featuring four core players — Wembanyama, Castle, Harper and Carter Bryant — still on rookie contracts.
The Spurs own four picks in June’s draft, including two in the top 35. Wembanyama will be eligible this offseason to sign the largest rookie extension in NBA history (five years, $251 million). Expect that deal to get done. San Antonio will have money to make moves in free agency but will lean in on developing youngsters such as Castle, Harper and Bryant.
Staff picks: Spurs-Thunder Game 7
David Dennis: Thunder
Ben Golliver: Thunder
Vincent Goodwill: Thunder
Danny Green: Thunder
Baxter Holmes: Thunder
Zach Kram: Spurs
Dave McMenamin: Spurs
Eric Moody: Spurs
Kendrick Perkins: Thunder
Ramona Shelburne: Spurs
Marc J. Spears: Thunder
Ohm Youngmisuk: Spurs
The results: Thunder 7, Spurs 5
