LAS VEGAS, NV — The San Antonio Spurs have been one of the best teams in the NBA to start the season, and they've done so with superstars Victor Wembanyama and De'Aaron Fox missing time due to injury.

But the team played it's first game with its core fully healthy against the Oklahoma City Thunder, and put on an absolute show in the NBA Cup in Las Vegas.

Wembanyama missed 12 straight games with a calf strain before returning against the Thunder, and the Spurs went 9-3 without him. Returning for a high-stakes game like the NBA Cup did't make things easy, but Wembanyama was excited to see his team healthy for the first time.

“I think it's our first time playing everybody,” Victor Wembanyama said after the Spurs' win over the Thunder. “My thoughts are just that we're already a solid team, already more than 20 games ago. It's just experience. We're just figuring it out. The difference with us and this team who is, I don't know, what are they 24-2? It's that we haven't had this many reps, recognizing what it takes and enjoying what it takes to win.

“This is our next step. Because this OKC team, they're not just first in the league, they're way ahead of everybody. Because when you watch them, no matter who, whether it's the 12th man or the starting five, whether they're playing against the 15th seed or in any kind of game, they're playing the same way. They're enjoying the little things that make them win, and this is the next step we have to pass.”

In his first game back, Wembanyama came off the bench so as not to disrupt the rhythm the starting lineup had developed while also allowing him to close out the game in the fourth quarter. He finished with 22 points, nine rebounds, two assists, and two blocked shots. In 21 minutes of play, Wembanyama shot 6-of-11 from the field, 1-of-1 from three, and 9-of-12 from the free throw line.

San Antonio Spurs forward Victor Wembanyama (1) flexes in front of Oklahoma City Thunder guard Cason Wallace (22) during the third quarter at T-Mobile Arena.
Kirby Lee-Imagn Images

Devin Vassell added a team-high 23 points, five rebounds, and four assists while De'Aaron Fox and Stephon Castle both scored 22 points.

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The complete team effort on both ends of the floor as the Spurs overcame a 16-point deficit to hand the Thunder their second loss of the season displayed the growth we're starting to see from a San Antonio organization that's been used to winning for much of the last 30 years.

“It's hard,” Victor Wembanyama added. “I think we're on the right path, and for the first time in my career — not in the case of everybody in our group — for the first time in my career, we're winning much more than we're losing. So it's a lot of pleasure, because… It doesn't feel normal when we lose, but unfortunately, it's things we have to go through. And we go through it again in the future if we need to, but we're winning much more than we're losing right now, so we are all where we like to be, we're all where we want to be.”

The NBA is very much a results-based league, but the Spurs are showing signs of improved process while winning games to the point where they appear ready to contend for a championship now.

“That's what we preach,” De'Aaron Fox explained. “Obviously, it's great to learn in the process while winning, it's always better to go through it like that than to have to have growing pains. But we always go into every game, no matter who we're playing against, best team in the league, worst team in the league, whatever it may be, and we worry about ourselves first. Because we know if we go out there and we execute to the point that we know we can execute that, we give ourselves a chance to win regardless of who we're playing against.

“I think we showed it [against the Thunder]. This team hit us in the mouth first. We were able to respond, and they responded, and we were able to close the game out. So I think that was what we call a mature win. But it's much better to win games like this and learn in the process.”

The Spurs advanced to the NBA Cup Final on Tuesday night against the New York Knicks, and while a win or loss won't count against their record, they're certainly a team on the rise as the season progresses towards Christmas.