Preview: Spurs vs. Thunder – Preseason Game #1

The San Antonio Spurs play their first preseason game of the 2024-25 season tonight when they host the Oklahoma City Thunder in South Texas. This will also be the first preseason game for the Thunder. Last season, Oklahoma City earned the top seed in the Western Conference with a record of 57-25.

San Antonio is coming off of a 22-60 campaign but there is hope that the Silver and Black will take a big step forward this season. Victor Wembanyama will be entering his sophomore season in the association and the addition of veterans Chris Paul and Harrison Barnes should help the youngsters on the squad learn how to win.

San Antonio Spurs Injury Update

Unfortunately, Spurs fans won’t get their first look at Victor Wembanyama tonight. The Frenchman will miss the game in order to rest. Also resting for San Antonio are Chris Paul and Zach Collins.

Devin Vassell is out while he recovers from offseason foot surgery. Charles Bassey is out after he missed the end of last season with a knee injury. David Duke Jr. is also sidelined with an undisclosed injury.

Once the regular season arrives, only Vassell is in jeopardy of missing real games.

Oklahoma City Thunder Injury Update

The Thunder will also be resting their best player. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander is resting tonight along with Lu Dort. The Thunder have the following players sitting out the preseason game against the Spurs with injuries: Jaylin Williams, Kenrich Williams, Nikola Topic and Alex Ducas.

San Antonio Spurs Starting Lineup

Head coach Gregg Popovich is very likely to start Wembanyama, Vassell and Paul when he has the chance. With those three out, tonight’s starting lineup will be quite a bit different.

Who will be in the starting five? The most likely combination is probably Harrison Barnes, Jeremy Sochan, Tre Jones, Julian Champagnie and Sandro Mamukelashvili. Other possible starters include Keldon Johnson, Malaki Branham and rookie Stephon Castle.

Even if Castle doesn’t start, it’ll be really interesting to see what position he will primarily play. In high school, he was a point guard. At UConn, he was a swingman. During training camp, Popovich has said that Castle has shown himself to be capable of playing the one, two or three.

Betting Guide: Spurs vs. Thunder

The Thunder are favored by 3.5 points and the over/under is 219 points. With the Spurs missing so much firepower, put your money on the Thunder to win by four or more points.