A rivalry is building between the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, and a big part of that is Victor Wembanyama’s disdain for the Thunder and, particularly, Chet Holmgren.
Wembanyama has not shied away from going at Holmgren in the media and on the court in recent years, and that’s continued in this Western Conference Finals matchup, which included a fly-by bump of the Thunder star in Game 5.
Oklahoma City was on the winning end of the pivotal game, so when Holmgren was asked about his battles with Wembanyama, he took the high road and made it about the Thunder and Spurs as teams.
“Yeah, I mean the way I see it, when you’re in it you have to look at it as Thunder vs. Spurs. We’re trying to win these games, they’re trying to win these games, that’s how you have to approach it. They have a really good team, we have a really good team. You guys know things are fragile in the NBA, but we’re going to try to keep this thing going as long as we can. I’m sure they are too, so I’m sure that means we’re going to cross paths a lot,”
The 24-year-old has averaged 16.2 PPG, 8.3 RPG, 1.2 APG, and 1.4 BPG through the first 13 games of these playoffs. This comes after averaging 17.1 PPG, 8.9 RPG, 1.7 APG, and 1.9 BPG across 69 regular-season games.
Wembanyama has often been the initiator of any tension between he and Holmgren, while the latter has seemingly preferred to let he and his team do the talking.
That worked on Tuesday night, and now San Antonio finds itself on the brink of elimination heading into a must-win Game 6 at home against Oklahoma City on Thursday night.
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