OKLAHOMA CITY — Sam Presti knew this might happen.The architect of this Oklahoma City Thunder team had a dynasty in the making, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander having remained so patient during the rebuilding years en route to the 2025 NBA title.But Victor Wembanyama happened. These San Antonio Spurs happened. And after this season, in which a special rivalry was born, with these two teams facing off 12! times from December through the end of May, the NBA landscape was dramatically changed in this 111-103 Spurs win in Game 7 win Saturday night.This, at its core, was about Wembanyama ascending into superstardom quicker than expected, while also getting the kind of help around him that the Spurs’ foes — Oklahoma City chief among them — hoped would never come. Hit the rewind button to February 2025, when De’Aaron Fox forced his way from the Sacramento Kings to the Spurs with the expressed intent of becoming the veteran co-star who helped this young phenom, Wembanyama, get to the next level.There was always a remote chance this could happen, even if it went against every historical marker in the near-80-year history of the NBA. Wembanyama would elevate. Fox, who had suffered in Sacramento for so many years before deciding to hit the eject button, would add a level of legitimacy that sped up the Spurs’ process. And if the young players hit — from Stephon Castle to Dylan Harper, Julian Champagnie, Keldon Johnson on down the line — then the Thunder might find themselves with the kind of threat that could shorten their runway to relevance.Now here we are.To see Wembanyama gush about the Spurs’ greatness after punching his ticket to the NBA Finals was to wonder if this might be the new way in the league. He’s only 22 years old with a Spurs team that just reached the NBA’s grandest stage and looks capable of doing this sort of thing for many years to come. Fox, who struggled to be at his best while dealing with a knee injury in this series, picked a perfect time to make his mark (15 points, five assists and three steals in Game 7). And just one season after winning 34 games, with Wembanyama’s second season cut short because of a blood clot that compelled him to contemplate the bigger picture at hand, they’ve sped up this Spurs timeline in the kind of way that could go down as one of the most remarkable rebuilds we’ve ever seen.“Winning the Larry O’Brien, it’s a childhood dream,” Wembanyama said afterward of this finals challenge ahead against the New York Knicks. “And having a real shot at it, having a chance — a tangible chance at winning it — realizing a dream, you know, it is a chance. It’s a lifetime chance. You never know when it is going to happen again.“But the day we win it, speaking for myself, it’s going to be an amazing day of realization of a dream. It’s hard to put into words. It’s almost like the meaning of my life.”The plot twist, the thing that might force the Thunder to reconsider how they build their roster going forward, is that the Spurs are already so great that extreme measures might be necessary to combat the counterpunch they just endured.Take a moment to process the perspective that Wembanyama shared after Game 7. He finished with 22 points, seven rebounds and just one block, but — as was the case with Fox — it was as deceiving of a stat line as you’ll ever find.He made a ghost out of Thunder big man Chet Holmgren, his longtime foe who is clearly terrified of this particular matchup and finished with the kind of line that will haunt him in the months, and possibly years, ahead: four points on 1-of-2 shooting, four rebounds, two blocks and two turnovers in nearly 33 minutes. There was no better indicator of how uniquely impactful Wembanyama is already proving to be, and this severe contrast of performances is sure to spark a conversation about how the Thunder might respond.“I found resources inside of me (in this series),” Wembanyama said. “Relentlessness. I already knew that, but doing it at this level (was different). I mean, this is the best basketball on the planet that’s being played right now. And the crazy thing is — maybe I’m crazy — but I want to do that 15, 20 more times. Let’s hope it doesn’t become an addiction. Maybe it is already.”That’s the part that the Thunder, and the other teams in the league, have to worry about now. Oklahoma City lost to these Spurs four times in five tries during the regular season, with the most memorable defeat coming in the NBA Cup semifinal that sent such a powerful message about the potential hierarchy. And then, they fell to them four times in seven games in this series, giving San Antonio an overall mark of 8-4 since that first December meeting.When it comes to trying to figure out who’s going to dominate the West in the years to come, that’s a substantial sample size to go by. Even if the Thunder can claim that the injury woes played a significant part in this series.The fact that All-Star guard Jalen Williams and rising talent Ajay Mitchell were gone for the vast majority of the series left Gilgeous-Alexander, the back-to-back MVP, lacking the kind of support he’d been used to. Not to mention the Holmgren struggles compounding it all.If anything, that means this matchup is about to become one for the ages, even if the Thunder don’t make any material changes. Celtics-Lakers. Pistons-Bulls. Cavs-Warriors. That level of hoops theater.When Gilgeous-Alexander and Thunder coach Mark Daigneault were asked to break down the end of their season, they were quick to give credit to the Spurs while being sure not to reach for excuses. Still, Gilgeous-Alexander referenced the reality that Presti isn’t one to stand still. He analyzes. He innovates. He corrects. If he learned anything from the legendary Gregg Popovich and famed Spurs executive R.C. Buford during his early years with the Spurs that led to his Thunder rise, it was that.Shai Gilgeous-Alexander had 35 points against Victor Wembanyama and the San Antonio Spurs in Game 7, but the Thunder as a whole found themselves looking for answers against the Spurs all season. (Christian Petersen / Getty Images)League sources have long maintained that Oklahoma City would not take part in the Giannis Antetokounmpo sweepstakes that will dominate the summertime conversation, but this sort of stunning finish is enough to re-spark that conversation. Nothing should be off the table when the end goal wasn’t reached. There has long been chatter about the Thunder having interest in Cleveland big man Evan Mobley as well, but Cavaliers general manager Koby Altman insisted in an end-of-season news conference that Mobley wasn’t going anywhere.The answers won’t come overnight for Oklahoma City, but this Spurs win was a declaration needed to be found. As Spurs big man Luke Kornet shared postgame, when he was waxing poetic about his late-game block on Isaiah Hartenstein that helped save their season, would-be dynasties have died on the vine plenty of times before.“I was in that position in Boston, (where) everyone likes to kind of anoint you, and think that you’re going to be unstoppable,” said Kornet, the 30-year-old who won a title with the Celtics in 2024 before that team was torn down. “They’re an incredible team, but … the road to even winning a championship is filled with losses, and it’s full (of) things being a lot harder (than you expect).”This was nothing if not that. There was Wembanyama going nuclear in Game 1, when the Spurs’ double-overtime win gave them the early edge. Every game from there felt consequential, with a teeter-totter feel along the way. The Spurs’ confidence, though, was built in all the games that came along the way.“We instilled the thought in our minds that we can beat them,” said Champagnie, the fourth-year small forward who had 20 points, six rebounds and a plus-16 mark. “There’s no team that’s better than us when we’re locked in. I still feel like that’s just a true statement, and that’s what we live by, what we’re living and dying by. Young or not, experienced or not. That’s just how we’re moving.”