Spurs celebrate big win over Thunder, but matchup with reigning champs not a rivalry yet

SAN ANTONIO (AP) — The San Antonio Spurs are the hottest team in the NBA just a year removed from two of the worst seasons in franchise history.

So players and fans can be excused for celebrating a win in December like it’s 1999 and their first NBA championship.

San Antonio beat Oklahoma City 130-110 on Tuesday night, handing the Thunder their worst defeat of the season and their second loss to the Spurs in 11 days. It was the Spurs' seventh straight victory, the league's longest active streak.

Just don’t call the matchup between the teams a rivalry — yet.

“I don’t view it as a budding rivalry,” San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said of Oklahoma City. “Our group’s been together 25-some-odd games. That team won 16 games in the playoffs (last season) to win a championship. I don’t want to disrespect their program and what they’ve built. We are trying to build something and we’re chasing every other single team in this league.”

The Spurs and Thunder play for the third time in two weeks on Thursday in Oklahoma City.

San Antonio beat Oklahoma City 111-109 on Dec. 13 in the NBA Cup semifinals.

“It is good we get to play them as much as we do because they’re a really good team,” Thunder forward Jalen Williams said.

San Antonio has won 14 of 17, including victories against the Denver Nuggets and Los Angeles Lakers, and moved into second place in the Western Conference.

Keldon Johnson scored 25 points, Stephon Castle added 24 and Harrison Barnes had 20 on Tuesday as the Spurs pulled within 3 1/2 games of the Thunder atop the West. San Antonio outscored Oklahoma City 43-28 in the fourth quarter, turning a tense game with 15 lead changes and 13 ties into a blowout.

“I think it would have been a great game to watch,” Spurs star Victor Wembanyama said. “I’ll watch it again.”

Wembanyama almost watched the game from the best seat in sold-out Frost Bank Center.

The 7-foot-3 center was downgraded to questionable on Monday as he continues to rehabilitate from a strained left calf that kept him out for 12 games. He was cleared to play a half hour before tipoff and came off the bench for the sixth straight time since returning.

“He’s a really, really good player, but he’s not their whole team at all,” Thunder coach Mark Daigneault said. “They’ve got a lot of good guys, they’ve got good balance, they’re well coached. They were super sharp tonight. They played with a great sense of purpose and they executed really well.”

The Spurs have had seven different players lead the team in scoring during their longest winning streak since 2015.

“We get it done by committee,” Keldon Johnson said. “Each night it could be somebody different and it has been someone different each and every night. Knowing we have that luxury, that we can have multiple guys that can have a night, but we all understand the team aspect of it that if someone has it going, we’ve got to get him the ball.”

It’s a welcome change for a storied franchise that has fallen on hard times.

The Spurs tied an NBA record with 22 consecutive postseason appearances beginning in 1998, the season before capturing their first of five championships. San Antonio has since missed the playoffs in six straight seasons.

The Spurs finished 34-48 last season after consecutive 22-60 seasons, one loss shy of the franchise's worst record of 21-61 set in 1989. San Antonio has rallied this year, starting with a franchise record 5-0 start.

“It tells me how much better we are from the beginning of the season,” Wembanyama said of Tuesday's win. “We can still get much better, but it means something for sure.”

Until then, Wembanyama dismisses any talk of a rivalry with the reigning champions.

Plus, he knows what a real rivalry is, having grown up watching Paris Saint-Germain face Marseille in soccer.

While the Spurs are still developing, Wembanyama is bringing some of that soccer fervor to San Antonio. He created a super fan group called the San Antonio Jackals.

Following the game, Wembanyama introduced what he hopes is a new tradition he worked on with the Jackals while sidelined with the calf injury.

The Spurs gave Wembanyama a microphone and brought a large bass drum onto the court. Wembanyama asked fans to stand, outstretch their arms and clap once after he pounded on the drum. The pause between each Wembanyama thump of the drum decreased until the Spurs fans were clapping wildly in celebration.

“That was phenomenal,” Barnes said. “I heard about it on the fly. That was great. He may have a career in marketing. The way he got that stadium going, that was great.”

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San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) hits a three point shot over Oklahoma Thunder guard Alex Caruso (9) during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) celebrates a three point basket against the Oklahoma Thunder during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) and San Antonio Spurs forward Keldon Johnson (3) celebrate Johnson's basket against the Oklahoma Thunder during the second half of an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) hits on a drum as he and teammates celebrate with the Spurs fans after defeating the Oklahoma Thunder in an NBA basketball game in San Antonio, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025. (AP Photo/Rodolfo Gonzalez)

A Christmas Eve Powerball drawing could add new meaning to holiday cheer as millions of players hope to cash in on the $1.7 billion prize, which comes after months without a jackpot winner.

The United States' 4th-largest jackpot on record comes after 46 consecutive draws without someone claiming to have all six numbers. The last contest with a jackpot winner was on Sept. 6. The game’s long odds have people decking the halls and doling out $2 — and sometimes more — for tickets ahead of Wednesday night's live drawing.

It's a sign the game is operating as intended. Lottery officials made the odds tougher in 2015 as a mechanism for snowballing jackpots, all the while making it easier to win smaller prizes.

The Christmas holiday is not expected to impact the drawing process should there be a winning ticket, a Powerball spokesperson said.

Here is what to know about Wednesday’s drawing:

That ticket placed in a stocking or under the tree could be worth a billion bucks — but with some caveats.

Powerball is played in 45 states, along with Washington, D.C., Puerto Rico and the U.S. Virgin Islands. Most of those areas require players to be 18 or older, though some states have steeper requirements. In Nebraska, players have to be at least 19 years old, and in Louisiana and Arizona, people can't buy tickets until they are 21.

Winning tickets also must be cashed in the states where they were bought. And players can't buy tickets in Alabama, Alaska, Hawaii, Nevada or Utah.

Other than that, lottery officials argue there is a chance a lucky Powerball ticket could be a gift that keeps on giving.

Charlie McIntyre, the New Hampshire Lottery's executive director, said Tuesday: “Just think of the stories you can tell for generations to come about the year you woke up a billionaire on Christmas.”

Wednesday's $1.7 billion jackpot has a cash value of $781.3 million.

A winner can choose to be paid the whole amount through an annuity, with an immediate payment and then annual payments over 29 years that increase by 5% each time. Most winners, however, usually choose the cash value for a lump sum.

The odds are high for the top prize, but there are smaller prizes players can reap.

At the last drawing, players in Florida, Georgia, Illinois, New York, Ohio, Pennsylvania, Tennessee and Wisconsin each won $1 million. There are also prizes outside the jackpot, ranging from a few dollars to $2 million.

One woman told Powerball officials that she already made plans for her $1 million win: “We’re going to pay off our cars and credit cards and get a bigger house!”

And Thomas Anderson of Burlington, North Carolina, said he intended to use his $100,000 Powerball win from earlier this month to go back to school, according to Powerball.

Lottery officials set the odds at 1 in 292.2 million in hopes that jackpots will roll over with each of the three weekly drawings until the pool balloons so much that more people take notice and play.

The odds used to be notably better, at 1 in 175 million. But the game was made tougher in 2015 to create the out-of-this-world bounties. The tougher odds partly helped set the stage for back-to-back record-breaking sweepstakes this year.

The last time someone won the Powerball pot was on Sept. 6, when players in Missouri and Texas won $1.787 billion, which was the second-highest top prize in U.S. history.

The U.S. has seen more than a dozen lottery jackpot prizes exceed $1 billion since 2016. The biggest U.S. jackpot ever was $2.04 billion back in 2022.

It’s hard to explain what odds of 1 in 292.2 million mean. Even if halved, they remain difficult to digest.

In the past, one math professor described the odds of flipping a coin and getting heads 28 straight times.

Tim Chartier, a Davidson College math professor in North Carolina, on Monday compared the odds of a winning lottery ticket to selecting one marked dollar bill from a stack 19 miles (31 kilometers) high.

“It’s true that if you buy 100 tickets, you are 100 times more likely to win. But in this case, ‘100 times more likely’ barely moves the probability needle,” Chartier said. “Using the time analogy, buying 100 tickets is like getting 100 guesses to name that one chosen second over nine years. Possible — but wildly improbable.”

Olivia Diaz is a corps member for The Associated Press/Report for America Statehouse News Initiative. Report for America is a nonprofit national service program that places journalists in local newsrooms to report on undercovered issues.

Pedestrians walk past a sign showing the Powerball jackpot of over one billion dollars at Rossi's Deli in San Francisco, Wednesday, Dec. 24, 2025. (AP Photo/Jeff Chiu)

A convenience store employee prays while Jackpot payouts for Powerball and Mega Millions are displayed outside the store, Tuesday, Dec. 23, 2025, in New York. (AP Photo/Yuki Iwamura)

A powerball ticket is pictured Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Minneapolis. (AP Photo/Abbie Parr)

A convenience store employee grabs a Powerball lottery ticket for a customer on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)

A person fills out a Powerball lottery ticket on Monday, Dec. 22, 2025, in Portland, Ore. (AP Photo/Jenny Kane)