Spurs historic rivalries ranked from least to most impactful

The San Antonio Spurs have been a prestigious franchise over the last three decades. They have had many triumphs and all-time classic games, and as a team, they have molded players into hall-of-famers. Aside from the recent year's struggles, as a franchise, San Antonio is up there with some of the best in all of professional sports.

During this period of success, they have developed some rivalries and created some memories that will go down in history forever.

Here, we are going to shed light on their top five current rivalries, mentioning the history between them and what the future holds. Buckle up; this is going to be exciting.

5. Oklahoma City Thunder:

When the Oklahoma City Thunder first started hitting their stride, the first real hurdle they needed to get through was the already-established San Antonio Spurs. San Antonio was the model franchise, and the up-and-coming Thunder needed to be tested. Kevin Durant, Russell Westbrook, James Harden, and Serge Ibaka went full-force at the veteran Spurs, giving them all they could handle for years.

The young Thunder were dynamic and had the veteran San Antonio team with their backs against the wall every night. These two teams met in the playoffs in 2012, 2014 and 2016, with the first two matchups being in the conference finals.

In 2012, Oklahoma City was able to get past San Antonio and march to the NBA Finals, only to put up a losing effort against the Miami Heat. Still, Oklahoma City was in the hunt for years afterward, and seemingly, the Spurs were always standing in their way. The Spurs lead the head-to-head series, 101-87.

In the playoffs, the Thunder have won two of the three matchups in this rivalry. While they have not met in the post-season as much as other teams on this list, what is most intriguing here is the future between the two. In modern-day, Oklahoma City's Shai Gilgeious-Alexander and Chet Holmgren are showing signs of being able to guide a franchise. The brewing Holmgren-Victor Wembanyama rivalry seems like it will be a must-watch TV for years to come.