The Spurs won’t have Tobias Harris on opening night, but they don’t need him to handle OKC

Mitch Johnson just revealed that Tobias Harris will not be ready for San Antonio's Tuesday night clash with Oklahoma City, according to The Athletic's Jared Weiss. It sounds like the former Piston is getting close; he's just not quite there yet.

"He’s ramping up. He’s progressing. He still needs some more progressing on the court." - Mitch Johnson

Starting the season at less than 100% isn't ideal, but it's nothing new for the Silver and Black. De'Aaron Fox missed the first eight games of the 2025-26 campaign, but that didn't stop the Spurs from setting a franchise record with a 5-0 start to start the year. Harris will be a great addition who can hopefully help get this team over the hump, but they beat OKC without him, and they can do it again.

The Spurs have made a habit of beating OKC no matter who's in the lineup

Chet Holmgren hasn't played all preseason, so the Thunder could also be down an important piece. That won't stop these teams from putting on a show on opening night. This is one of the best rivalries in the NBA right now, and possibly in all of sports. Still, despite the Western Conference Finals going seven games, these two aren't exactly standing on even ground.

That has to be rubbing Oklahoma City the wrong way.

The Spurs were improving in Victor Wembanyama's second season, but they weren't that good. Last year was unexpected for everyone. Coming off a title in 2025, the Thunder believed they were poised to run the league until San Antonio started racking up Ws against them. The doubt had to start creeping into their minds early.

If it were only one in November, you could dismiss it, but it was three wins within a two-week span that included an NBA Cup semifinal and a Christmas Day game. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander even acknowledged there was something to it: "You don’t lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you."

Turns out he was right, and the Spurs proved that in a best-of-seven series. When combining the regular season and playoffs, San Antonio held an 8-4 record over the Thunder. That should be enough of a sample size for everyone to agree on who the better team was, but something weird happened instead.

OKC's players weren't the only ones compromised

Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell's absence to end the series gave too many people an excuse to place an asterisk on SA's Western Conference Finals win. Those people forget a couple of things. 1. The Spurs were beating the Thunder when OKC had everyone healthy, which included a Game 1 overtime win in Oklahoma City without De'Aaron Fox in the lineup.

That brings me to my second point: Swipa wasn't healthy in that series. He missed the first two games and was significantly hampered when he returned. Had everyone been healthy on both sides, there's no reason to believe the results would have been different.

The Spurs won't have a problem proving that again, though. They already don't like the Thunder, and there's a real chance they'll have to go through OKC to get back to June anyway. Might as well clown them again in the process.

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