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Player grades: Thunder's season ends in 111-103 Game 7 loss to Spurs

OKLAHOMA CITY — Exiting the court, the reigning NBA champions' time on the throne has officially come to an end. Victor Wembanyama went from teammate to teammate to drape his lengthy wingspan over their bodies for several bear hugs in a row. Meanwhile, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander quietly went through the home tunnel.

The Oklahoma City Thunder fell in a 111-103 Game 7 loss to the San Antonio Spurs. They came up a win shy in the 2026 Western Conference Finals, being on the wrong side of a 4-3 final series count.

Without Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell, the Thunder faced an uphill battle. Conventional wisdom suggested all year that OKC desperately needed the former against San Antonio to have a chance. Instead, he only played one full game looking like himself before another hamstring injury sidelined him.

To add insult to injury — pun intended — Mitchell's absence for the last four games of this series made the Thunder play offense with a hand tied behind their collective back. Bless OKC's role players' hearts, but the talent gap was too wide to overcome. Barring some wild outside shooting variance.

The Thunder had that in Game 5. It was needed again in this do-or-die situation. Instead, they once again started on a flat note. Turning it over every other possession, they were in an 18-8 hole from the jump. Slow starts have plagued OKC all series long. Now, it's happening again in the finale.

Eventually, the Thunder settled down. They were in a 32-25 deficit after the first quarter. Gilgeous-Alexander had it going. So did Jared McCain in spurts. But everybody else couldn't join in on helping out the short-handed squad. The second quarter was a much different story, though.

In what turned out to be their best punch of the game, the Thunder went on a 20-5 run to make things interesting. Gilgeous-Alexander finally looked like a two-time MVP winner who shared the same sentences as Michael Jordan and Kobe Bryant. Drilling mid-range jumpers over San Antonio defenders, he wouldn't allow OKC to get buried on the scoreboard again.

The Thunder had 28 points in the second quarter. They entered halftime in a 56-53 deficit. You easily take being in that spot — all things considered. Gilgeous-Alexander had 19 points. McCain helped with 10. If they hoped to pull off the all-time win, others had to help out. Looking at you, Chet Holmgren.

Shaking up the second half lineup, Alex Caruso and Jaylin Williams replaced Lu Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein. The Thunder turned every stone in sight to see if they could conjure up some clutch-time magic to overcome their scoring talent dressed up in street clothes.

Scoring eight in a row, the lineup change worked out. Williams hit a big-time 3-pointer to make it a 79-77 game with a minute to go in the third frame. The Thunder were in a manageable 80-77 deficit through three quarters. Alas, those hopes quickly evaporated.

In the biggest stretch of the series, the Spurs started the fourth quarter on a 17-9 run. To twist the knife? Wembanyama had little to do with it. Instead, it was San Antonio's others. Julian Champagnie poured it on from the outside. Keldon Johnson delivered huge outside jumpers. Even Stephon Castle bullied his way to the rim.

With eight minutes left, the Thunder were in a 97-86 deficit. All of the progress they made it keep it within a possessions was gone. Poof. And even with Wembanyama's foul trouble, OKC couldn't capitalize. The lack of top-scoring sans Gilgeous-Alexander reared its ugly head to the top.

Even when the Thunder's defense finally showed up by forcing turnovers, they couldn't convert on the other end in transition. That's been a theme all series. And it finally bit them in the worst way possible. Gilgeous-Alexander tried his best to play Superman, but OKC's offense quickly bogged down to bad shot attempts. They scored 26 points in the final frame.

The Thunder shot 45% from the field and went 12-of-35 (34.3%) from 3. They shot 17-of-22 on free throws. They also had 23 assists on 37 baskets. Five Thunder players scored double-digit points.

Gilgeous-Alexander gave it his all with 35 points and nine assists. Cason Wallace helped out with 17 points and seven rebounds. Caruso had 12 points and five rebounds. McCain finished with 12 points. Williams had 11 points and 10 rebounds.

Meanwhile, the Spurs shot 46% from the field and went 17-of-40 (42.5%) from 3. They shot 14-of-19 on free throws. They had 21 assists on 40 baskets. Seven Spurs players scored double-digit points.

Wembanyama had 22 points and seven rebounds en route to the Western Conference Finals MVP. Castle had 16 points, six rebounds and six assists. Champagnie chipped in with 20 points and six rebounds. De'Aaron Fox had 15 points and five assists. Dylan Harper finished with 12 points and seven rebounds. Johnson scored 11 points.

Well, that's how the cookie crumbles sometimes. Once Williams and Mitchell were lost for most of the playoff series, it was going to take a Herculean effort from Gilgeous-Alexander and the rest of the Thunder to pull this off. The Spurs were OKC's equal all year. Both were the NBA's best two teams all season as 60-plus-win juggernauts. They finished just one win shy of doing so. As the adage goes — you need as much luck as talent to win an NBA championship. The Thunder didn't have the former in the health department.

Now, the Thunder will have an entire summer to figure out what's next. Roster changes are inevitable. Looking at their cap sheet, they have some important decisions to make regarding the supporting cast around Gilgeous-Alexander, Williams and Holmgren. That's part of the NBA gig. No such thing as a standstill roster. You tip your cap to OKC. It did everything it could under its situation. Just didn't have the talent to beat the Spurs.

Let's look at Thunder player grades:

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander: A-plus

Down six points with 90 seconds left, Gilgeous-Alexander had one last gasp to do something. Matched up with Champagnie, the two-time MVP went with the signature stepback 3-pointer. The move he's worked countless hours on betrayed him at the biggest moment of the year. He badly missed the desperate.

He could still hold his head up high, though. Gilgeous-Alexander finished with 35 points on 12-of-21 shooting, nine assists and four rebounds. He shot 2-of-5 from 3 and went 9-of-11 on free throws. He also had three steals and one block.

Without Williams and Mitchell, the Thunder needed Gilgeous-Alexander to go supernova to have a chance. And considering the final score, he almost did. It took seven games, but the 27-year-old finally looked like the league's best player. He left it all on the floor and outdueled Wembanyama — even if that fact gets lost in time.

Gilgeous-Alexander had it going from the start. He scored 19 points in the first half. Nobody else on the Thunder had it going. All of OKC's role players' hot scoring has dried up. Considering how dire the situation was, they needed him to be a one-man show as Williams was physically absent while Holmgren was mentally absent.

Helping the Thunder stay within striking distance, Gilgeous-Alexander had 12 points in the third quarter alone. At 31 points through three frames, he was their sole source of consistent offense. His mid-range jumper finally returned after an impromptu sabbatical. You can't afford to pass up on decent looks for hopefully better ones in this scenario.

Unfortunately, the Thunder learned the very hard lesson that you can't win a Game 7 with just one player showing up. Gilgeous-Alexander emptied the chamber and made things interesting, but a year filled with OKC overcoming injuries finally caught up to it at the end. It was his worst playoff series to date as an NBA superstar, but he finished it off with a bang and playing well enough to get the series win.

Chet Holmgren: F-minus

The same can't be said about OKC's other All-NBA player. Seldom playing in the fourth quarter of a Game 7 with a trip to the NBA Finals on the line, Holmgren's ineffectiveness was plastered all over television screens across the country. It finally caught up to the Thunder in this season-ending loss.

Holmgren finished with four points on 1-of-2 shooting and four rebounds. He shot 2-of-4 on free throws. He also had two blocks and two steals.

Just bad. Flat-out bad. Holmgren has done an excellent job of evading the Wembanyama beef. But this Western Conference Finals will force the Thunder to address that elephant in the room — one way or another. After playing like an All-NBA guy through OKC's first two playoff series, his production dipped below the floor. Save for maybe a few flashes. But flashes aren't what you're about to pay him a boatload of money for.

Of course, nobody reasonable could've expected Holmgren to meet Wembanyama's production. The latter left those talks years ago. But there's zero excuse for the 24-year-old to be borderline unplayable in OKC's biggest game of the year. The scoring numbers were gone. He couldn't even muster up a decent volume in a do-or-die scenario.

And then Holmgren's rim protection eroded as the series went on. The Spurs had little fear of going right at him by Game 7. Scrolling online reactions, feels like a lot of Thunder fans want him to be gone this summer — I hate to break it to you, but that isn't happening. Not out of pure spite, at least.

Criticize Holmgren all you want in this series. And he deserves most of it. But he was one of the NBA's 15 best players this season. He helped the Thunder become a 64-win team that was a win away from another NBA Finals trip. You just don't throw that away over one bad series — even with how ugly it got. Let's see how OKC responds this summer with its offseason moves, but expect it to tweak the cast instead of fundamentally changing things.

Cason Wallace: A

With the outside shot falling, Wallace was feeling himself. He went headfirst at the basket and kissed the ball off the glass for the impressive layup. The 22-year-old was the sole player who did enough to help Gilgeous-Alexander secure another Game 7 win.

Wallace finished with 17 points on 6-of-10 shooting, seven rebounds and four assists. He shot 5-of-9 from 3. He also had two steals and one block.

Give credit to Wallace, he showed out. An inconsistent regular season became a distant memory. If you were gonna rank everybody's Western Conference Finals from OKC's side, the 22-year-old has to be near the top of the list. Desperately needing some scoring, he provided it by knocking down his catch-and-shoot looks.

In the biggest dozen minutes of the season, Wallace scored an unreal 14 points in the final frame. The buckets were much-needed as Gilgeous-Alexander's meter was near empty. On defense, he showed why he was an All-Defense guy. A handful of steals helped fuel OKC's momentum. Even if it came in vain.

If you're looking for glass-half-full thoughts on this heartbreaker, Wallace's breakout is one of them. He's a gamer. And given the starting nod in a Game 7, I think the Thunder showed their hand a little in terms of how much they value him. Expect him to become a regular starter next season with Lu Dort's probable departure.

Alex Caruso: D

Well, Caruso's magic run finally ran out. The 32-year-old has built up a reputation for being a playoff riser. And while it's still warranted, that wasn't really there in this one. Like the rest of the Thunder's suited-up role players, most couldn't handle the intensity that a Game 7 came with.

Caruso finished with 12 points on 3-of-14 shooting, five rebounds and four assists. He shot 1-of-6 from 3 and went 5-of-6 on free throws. He also had one block.

Always juiced up for these high-intensity circumstances, perhaps Caruso was a little too amped up for his own good. That would at least explain why he missed so many bunnies around the rim. And why his outside jumper finally crashed back down to Earth after he flirted with being in the Western Conference Finals MVP conversation. He couldn't deliver the same hero-esque outings in this one.

Gilgeous-Alexander and Wallace had it going, but nobody else on the Thunder did. Meanwhile, the Spurs had seven folks score double-digit points. While Wembanyama struggled with foul trouble, the rest of their cast stepped up to get this resume-building road win. That was ultimately the difference between the two sides.

Ah well. Can't get too mad at Caruso. Or really, any of the other Thunder role players. They punched above their weight for most of the playoff series. But things eventually normalized at the worst time possible. Now, OKC will have the rest of the summer to wonder what-if regarding its bad health luck finally costing them in the end.