Jalen Williams admits OKC felt they were playing a version of themselves in the WCF

The 2026 Western Conference Finals were a fantastic series between the Oklahoma City Thunder and the San Antonio Spurs. The Spurs ended up coming out victorious in a matchup between two young and elite teams. It gave the sense that this was only the first battle between the two sides.

The Thunder failed to defend their 2025 championship, a run that involved the youngest team to be NBA champions. Now, the Spurs could take that even further. For Thunder star Jalen Williams, it was a tough series due to his injuries, but he also felt like they were playing against quite a similar team to OKC.

Jalen Williams saw the similarities between the Spurs and the Thunder

The 2026 WCF was a glimpse into the future of the NBA. It was two of the youngest teams in the league duking it out for a spot in the NBA's biggest stage, and the Spurs came out victorious. This is the first postseason run for the Spurs' core, and they are doing wonderfully.

It is a young team, but they seem not to care about all the discourse about their supposed inexperience. That is reminiscent of what the Thunder did in 2025, but they did have a bit of postseason experience from the previous seasons.

MORE: Shai Gilgeous-Alexander's message about the Spurs after the WCF defeat

For J-Dub, playing against the Spurs felt like they were playing against another version of the Thunder. That was a bit jarring for the Thunder, but they did match up well despite having injured players like Williams and Ajay Mitchell. Moving forward, it seems the Thunder are motivated to get their payback.

"It's honestly crazy playing against them because it's like playing another version of ourselves. The runs they make, we make those runs. It's also exciting because we don't run from competition. It kills me that I couldn't play there," Williams said a day after the Thunder got eliminated by the Spurs.

The Thunder are still a special team, and with a healthy Williams and Mitchell, they could be preparing for the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals now. Unfortunately, that did not happen for the Thunder, and now, they will have to go back to the lab and prepare for future matchups against the Spurs.

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• Cason Wallace admits the Spurs are still a 'beatable team' after the Thunder's WCF loss
• Shai Gilgeous-Alexander admits that he will let Sam Presti do his job in the offseason
• Chet Holmgren's issues were a team-wide problem, says Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault