The Oklahoma City Thunder burned through the first two rounds of the 2025-26 postseason, smothering the Phoenix Suns 4-0 in the first round before taking down the Los Angeles Lakers 4-0 in the second.
While reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has maintained a high level of play, OKC’s depth and bench play has been one of the major factors in their success so far.
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Their undefeated postseason streak came to an end when they lost Game 2 of the Western Conference Finals to the San Antonio Spurs, but Game 3 was a shocking display of dominance from OKC’s reserves.
Jared McCain erupted off the bench for a playoff career-high 24 points alongside Jaylin Williams, who also put up a playoff career-high with 18 points.
Meanwhile, Alex Caruso kept his hot streak going with 15 points, two steals and a block.
This strong play from the reserves helped OKC weather a below-average night for their starters. Gilgeous-Alexander had a relatively cold shooting night while Ajay Mitchell finished with just two points and Luguentz Dort went scoreless.
OKC’s staring five scored 47 points in total while their bench poured in 76 points. San Antonio has reigning Sixth Man of the Year Keldon Johnson coming off the bench, but the Spurs’ depth has struggled to keep up with OKC’s.
This trend extends beyond Game 3 as OKC has outscored San Antonio in bench points 183-64 through three games.
“We just try to look at things through the lens of our own strengths,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said after Game 3. “The last thing you want to do is assume that an opponent has a weakness that they don’t have. We assume the opponent’s always at their best, and we need to be ours and depth is a part of that.”
While Spurs center Victor Wembanyama has a serious argument as the most impactful player in this series, the minutes that he’s on the bench have not been pretty for San Antonio.
Backup big Luke Kornet has not been impressive and Johnson has struggled to maintain his impressive level of play from the regular season.
This problem is compounded by the fact that Wembanyama is still a young and developing player that will struggle with conditioning more than veteran players. He deals with stamina issues similarly to the way Milwaukee Bucks star Giannis Antetokounmpo did early in his career.
Entering Game 4 in San Antonio, OKC is operating more like a rotating MLB team calling on whoever is available, instead of a typical NBA team that runs the same rotations nearly every game.
This unpredictability would usually cause problems for a team, but it happens to be the Thunder’s greatest strength.
James Parker is a sports writer for Ball Exclusives, follow him on X @TheJames_Parker
