Jaylen Williams is a possible solution to the streak woes

Jalen Williams and the Oklahoma City Thunder have surrendered four losses on the second night of back-to-back games, but the All-Star forward is not looking for excuses. San Antonio Spurs win against the Thunder by 20 points is the worst defeat of the season for the defending champions.

However, Williams pointed to the Thunder’s starting lineup, which started in just two games this season, and started five strengthening its continuity in 2025-26.

“We just have to get better in the order. It’s really not that big of a deal for us,” Williams said. “Everybody in the league has to play back-to-back, so I’m sitting here complaining about travel or something ridiculous. I think for us it’s just going to be about bringing in guys that have been out at inconsistent times just to get better, defensively, offensively. Me, Chet, Zay, Lou, Shai played — just a few minutes.”

“It’s showing a little bit. It’s getting a little sticky, but we’ve got a thousand more games to figure it out and get it done. Hopefully we can all continue to gel and get it back.”

While Jaylen Williams is adamant that playing on the second night of back-to-back games isn’t a problem, he did reveal one instance when the Thunder were denied against the Portland Trail Blazers.

“But it has nothing to do with the running backs,” Williams added. “The only time I’ll say we had some work to do (with back-to-back games) was when we went six men against Portland. And even then, a winnable game we should have won, and at one point we were up by 20. So we’re not a team built on excuses and not playing well at guard.”

The Trail Blazers handed the Thunder their first loss of the regular season with a perfect 8-0 start.

Mark Daigneault on the Spurs’ win against the Thunder

Thunder head coach Marc Daigneault credited the Spurs’ composure in a 130-110 loss on Tuesday. After the game, Daigneault gave the Spurs his proverbial flowers for a statement in their second win against the defending champions in two weeks.

“Kudos to them. They played great on both ends of the floor from an energy and execution standpoint. They deserve to win the game all the way. Obviously, that was a statement about the way they played,” Daigneault said.

“They were the better team tonight. We can learn from that. Obviously, we’ve got them in two days. We’ve got some lessons from the game to take away and, obviously, we’ve got to be a better team if we’re going to beat them on Christmas Day.”

The Thunder will host the Spurs at the Pike Center on Thursday.