Grades: San Antonio Spurs at Oklahoma City Thunder – Game #80
Devonte Graham and the Spurs couldn’t hang with the Thunder (Photo via Twitter)
A super short-handed San Antonio Spurs squad got destroyed by the Oklahoma City Thunder on Wednesday night. Playing without Victor Wembanyama, Devin Vassell, Jeremy Sochan, Keldon Johnson, Cedi Osman and Dominick Barlow, the Spurs didn’t have a chance. The Thunder led 34-11 after the end of the first quarter and yawned their way to a 127-89 victory.
All in all, I don’t think there’s anything to take from this game. The Spurs didn’t have enough horses to compete against a motivated Thunder team. San Antonio could have played better — but the outcome was sealed before the game even started.
Stats: Spurs at Thunder

Spurs at Thunder – Final Grades
Tre Jones
Jones played okay. He accomplished a bit of playmaking even though he didn’t have many passing targets. Jones was forced to look to score the ball more than usual and had a few positive moments. Having him as a go-to scorer is obviously suboptimal but I liked his effort. Jones was also hustling on the defensive end — even after the game was all but over.
Grade: B-
Julian Champagnie
Champagnie is at his best when he can space the floor for creators. With the Thunder able to focus on him, Champagnie folded. He missed all six of his three-point attempts and didn’t do anything else of note. Playing harder could have helped but Champagnie was clearly out of his element.
Grade: D
Sandro Mamukelashvili
Mamukelashvili can’t be happy after going scoreless. He had a chance to start and play big minutes but he just couldn’t make a basket. It looked like he was mostly too much in a hurry on defense. To his credit, Mamukelashvili tossed his body around enough on defense to corral 11 boards.
Grade: D+
Zach Collins
It’s not too much of an exaggeration to say that Collins looked like the only legitimate professional basketball player on the court for the good guys. Take out his production and the Spurs would have shot 30.4% from the floor and 20% from three-point range. As the numbers suggest, Collins was the player the Spurs could go to and get offensive production. He was impactful on the inside and on the outside. He was also making a few plays on the defensive end. That said, Collins deserves some blame for the chaos due to his five turnovers in 26 minutes.
Grade: B
Malaki Branham
Branham stepping up as a scoring threat could have theoretically kept the Spurs from getting blown out of orbit. But … that didn’t happen. He took an elbow to the head that opened a cut — and that seemed to sidetrack him a bit. Branham, though, had some chances and didn’t deliver. He struggled on both ends during his 20 minutes of play.
Grade: D+
Sidy Cissoko
Cissoko looked pretty interesting. While his perimeter touch is a bit worrisome, he did hit 5-of-7 free throws and 1-of-3 from three-point land. Cissoko is powerful so he should be able to learn to finish at the rim. Shooting will remain a concern until further notice. As it stands, his best skill is his passing. He sees the court well and processes the game at a very fast speed. Defensively, Cissoko has work to do but it seems like he has the build and the will to succeed on that end.
Grade: B-
Blake Wesley
Ouch. Wesley is yet another player on the Spurs who could have stepped into a bigger role but failed to do so. Wesley missing 10 out of his 11 field goal attempts was pretty ugly. The touch on all of his shots is still a work in progress. He also didn’t make many plays for others in this game or bring a notable amount of defensive energy.
Grade: D
Devonte’ Graham
Add Graham to the count of players who couldn’t buy a bucket. He was 1-for-7 from the floor and missed all four of his three-point attempts. His passing and defense weren’t anything special. A veteran like Graham has even less of an excuse to lay an egg.
Grade: D-
David Duke Jr.
The good: Duke looks like he can play. He has a lively body and knows what to do. The bad: Duke has to shoot straight to make it in the league — and he didn’t shoot straight against OKC.
Grade: C+
RaiQuan Gray
Gray is probably the most intriguing of these three G Leaguers. He’s a big dude but he moves well on defense and has good instincts. Offensively, Gray has good court sense and passes the ball well. He’s not typically a knock-down shooter but he hit three threes versus the Thunder.
Grade: B+
Jamaree Bouyea
Bouyea is small, not exceptionally athletic and doesn’t create a whole lot of offense. It’d be difficult for him to overcome those traits and make it as an NBA player.
Grade: B-
Pop
The Spurs were terrible but Pop didn’t exactly have a whole lot to work with. I did, however, agree with the decision to sit Wembanyama. Playing him on the second night of a back-to-back after some recent grueling games wouldn’t have made sense.
Grade: B+