OKLAHOMA CITY — Somehow, someway, the Oklahoma City Thunder had a 107-101 win over the Sacramento Kings. Through mostly close victories, the reigning NBA champion finds itself at 5-0 to start the 2025-26 regular season.

“We’re obviously not fully healthy, either. I just think of the persistence of the team. We’re building different muscles at different times,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said. “There’s certainly habits we need to improve on, but the persistence I thought was on display again tonight... The team just played with great grit through the 48 minutes and through this stretch.”

Missing Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren, the short-handed Thunder looked like a team running on fumes to start. After being loudly cheered again, Russell Westbrook made a couple of corner looks to get going. The Kings had a 29-24 lead after the first quarter.

The second frame was much better for the Thunder. At least on one side of the ball. Gilgeous-Alexander and DeRozan went back and forth. It was a generational battle of mid-range maestros. The Thunder scored 34 points in the quarter, but the Kings kept their distance. OKC entered halftime in a 62-58 deficit.

Then, the second half closer resembled what the Thunder did on defense last season. The Kings were limited to 21 points in the third frame. Despite a size advantage, Domantas Sabonis couldn’t finish through traffic when he collected misses. Not on second- chance, third-chance or even fourth-chance looks.

The Thunder exited the third frame in an 83-80 deficit. A manageable deficit. But the opening minutes of the fourth quarter would tell you how things would shake out. Could OKC’s bench survive Gilgeous-Alexander’s required rest? The answer was yes, but barely.

Returning from concussion protocol, Alex Caruso provided a spark off the bench. A laissez-faire approach had the Thunder from behind for most of the game. A mostly-filled OKC crowd was quiet. They desperately needed a reason to get up and energize the arena.

Once Gilgeous-Alexander returned, Sacramento only had a four-point lead with a little under eight minutes left. Another clutch time situation was brewing. Not anything new for this squad. It’s been a complete contrast from last season’s flood of blowout wins. Gilgeous-Alexander shoulder-bumped his way to a layup. That turned it into a one-point deficit with a little under four minutes left. A couple of possessions later, he dished it out to Lu Dort, who hit the big-time outside bucket to give OKC its first lead in forever.

As the Thunder led by two points with one minute left, Dort ripped a rebound out of Sabonis’s hands. That eventually led to Caruso’s big-time outside bucket. Suddenly, they had a 104-99 advantage with 47 seconds left. Gilgeous-Alexander ’s step back 3-pointer was the punctuation mark of a 27-point final frame to complete the comeback and improbable win.

In the end, the Thunder finished on an 11-4 run in the final six minutes. That meant the Kings only put up four points in crunch time and then some. It goes to show that when it needs to, OKC can go back to its world-class defense that won it a championship. Even without key players like Williams and Holmgren.

The Thunder shot 46% from the field and went 14-of-44 (31.8%) from 3. They shot 9-of-10 on free throws. They had 26 assists on 42 baskets. Four Thunder players scored double-digit points. Gilgeous-Alexander led the way with 31 points and nine rebounds. Aaron Wiggins and Ajay Mitchell each had 18 points. Dort finished with 13 points.

Meanwhile, the Kings shot 42% from the field and went 10-of-29 (34.5%) from 3. They shot 19-of-21 on free throws. They had 21 assists on 36 baskets. Five Kings players scored double-digit points.

LaVine led the way with 23 points and four rebounds. DeRozan had 19 points and three assists. Sabonis tallied 10 points and 18 rebounds. Westbrook finished with 16 points and nine rebounds. Keon Ellis had 12 points off the bench.

Another last-second win for the Thunder. It’s not what fans have grown accustomed to in the last couple of years, but the start of this season has been a slap back to the NBA reality. This is how teams get most of their victories. Especially when two of your three best players, plus more, are out.

It looked like, for most of the night, the Thunder would serve their first loss of the season. The Kings perfectly played into the trap game role. Most of their household names had their turn putting up impressive isolation buckets. But OKC turned it up a notch in the fourth quarter to do just enough to squeeze by.

“It hasn’t been a masterpiece of execution, but I do think we’ve flexed our resilience muscle in this stretch just by staying persistent and enduring a challenging stretch of games in a condensed period of time,” Daigneault said. “The guys did a great job of just sticking with it. That’s where the competitive spirit of these guys shows up... Nobody had their fastball tonight and yet everybody made plays to give us enough to win a game.”

Rating the Thunder

Considering the Kings allowed Austin Reaves to go off for 51 points, Gilgeous-Alexander had it going. He sliced through Sacramento’s defense with finishes around the basket. The mid-range and short jumpers were also on point. It was one of those nights where the ball felt good leaving his fingertips.

Aaron Wiggins finished with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting, six rebounds and six assists. He shot 4-of-10 from 3. He also had three blocks and one steal. Seldom is Wiggins’ best play from the hustle variety. The bucket-getter has the scoring bag to break down his defender now and then. But the offensive rebound put the Thunder up by an important four points. And it all was created from a pure hustle play amid chaos.

Receiving the ball on the left wing with three seconds left, Ajay Mitchell wasn’t rushed to put up a shot. Instead, he read the game-time situation and drove to the basket. An open lane to a layup just beat the shot clock buzzer. It was another game where the 23-year-old stepped up. Mitchell finished with 18 points on 7-of-15 shooting and one assist. He shot 3-of-7 from 3 and went 1-of-1 on free throws.

The Thunder will have home court advantage tonight when they take on the Washington Wizards at 7 p.m.

The Wizards are 1-3 on the season so far coming into OKC.

The game can be viewed on the NBA League Network

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