How Marc Daigneault attributed Spurs influence over Victor Wembanyama

Mark Daigneault and the Oklahoma City Thunder encountered a short against Victor Vembanyama and the San Antonio Spurslosing NBA Cup semi-finals, 111-109. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and the Thunder fought back to the end, but came short down the stretch.

After the Thunder’s loss to the Spurs, Daigneault highlighted Wembanyama’s impact throughout the night, but made it clear he wasn’t the Spurs’ only player making his presence felt on both ends of the floor, he said, per The Oklahoman’s Justin Martinez.

“Huge, obviously. It has a big two-way impact,” Daigneault said. “Obviously, blocking the rim. He’s a problem on the glass and he was certainly early. Then he got into a rhythm offensively, made some really tough shots down the stretch. So credit to him and to them. They played really well without him for parts of the game, though. I didn’t think it was isolated to them.”

“It was a great team win for them – they won as a team. A lot of their guys played well, but he certainly had an impact on the game.”

Here’s Marc Daigneault after OKC’s NBA Cup semifinal loss to San Antonio pic.twitter.com/DKG89TnCCV

— Justin Martinez (@Justintohoops) December 14, 2025

In his return from a calf injury, Vembanyama led the Spurs bench with 22 points, nine rebounds and two blocks. Spurs rookies Devin Vassell (23 points), De’Aaron Fox (22 points) and Stephon Castle (22 points) led San Antonio.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with 29 points on 12 of 23 attempts, five assists, four rebounds and one block. Jaylen Williams (17 points, four steals) and Chet Holmgren (17 points, seven rebounds) combined for 34 points, and Alex Caruso led the way off the bench with 11 points.

Mark Daigneault takes credit for Spurs after Thunder’s NBA Cup loss

Head coach Mark Daigneault watched the Spurs All-Star Victor Wembanyama gets the best of Chet Holmgren and the Thunder in the semifinals of the NBA Cup. For Daigneault, the Spurs’ cohesive approach stood out most during Saturday night’s loss.

“They played a really good game, played hard and competed,” Daigneault added. “I thought, basically, there’s certainly some things that we tend to do pretty well that put us on the edge, make it easier to read and give us more space. And when we don’t do those things, it makes everything difficult. It makes decisions harder — it makes shots more contested and it closes up space on the floor.

“So there’s a lot we can work with from that game from a process standpoint, and usually when our process is pretty good at those things, we make pretty solid plays and rhythm shots,” Daigneault concluded.

The Spurs snapped the Thunder’s 16-game winning streak, handing the defending champions their second loss of the season.