Which Teams Have Beat OKC This Season—And Do Any of Them Have Any Finals Ambitions?

Picture Shai Gilgeous-Alexander walking off the court in Oklahoma City on January 5th, checking the scoreboard one more time with disbelief, hoping that the numbers will change if he stares hard enough. Unfortunately for the reigning MVP, they don’t. Charlotte 124, Thunder 97. The worst home beatdown the defending champs have suffered all season, administered by a 13-23 Hornets squad that shouldn’t be within 20 points of a team with championship aspirations.

That’s the thing about dominance—it breeds complacency. The Thunder are 37-9, sitting atop the Western Conference like they own the place, with online betting sites slashing odds all the time on a championship repeat. The latest NBA betting at Bovada odds currently position OKC as the +110 favorites to defend the crown they won in thrilling fashion last season, but nine times this term, somebody’s figured them out… Or got lucky. Or caught them sleeping. 

So, who are those teams that have stunned the champs this term? And do any of them have postseason ambitions of their own? Let’s take a look. 

San Antonio Spurs

Three times. The Spurs beat OKC three times in 13 days—Las Vegas, San Antonio, Oklahoma City. That’s not variance. That’s not luck. That’s a blueprint. 

Victor Wembanyama is the problem OKC can’t solve. The 7’3 French kid isn’t just altering shots—he’s scrambling Oklahoma City’s entire offensive progression, forcing them into rushed possessions and bad angles. Jalen Williams said it plainly after their Christmas Day humiliation: “Just having Victor out there defensively covers up for a lot of their mistakes.” Translation? The Thunder’s vaunted discipline evaporates when they’re trying to score over a dude whose wingspan makes him look like a Boeing 747 guarding three players at once. 

That Christmas beatdown—117-102—wasn’t close. De’Aaron Fox dropped 29, pushing San Antonio’s lead to 21 in the third before they started running clock. The kicker? Wembanyama was coming off the bench in all three matchups, working his way back from a calf injury, averaging just 23 minutes. He still put up 17.7 points and 8.3 rebounds per game against them. 

San Antonio’s 30-14 now. Their +1000 Finals odds make them the third favorite behind only OKC and Denver. Those aren’t longshot numbers—that’s the market saying this team is dangerous. Shai admitted what everyone already knew: “You don’t lose to a team three times in a row in a short span without them being better than you.”

Can they replicate it over seven games? That’s the postseason question that’ll define both these teams.

Portland Trail Blazers

Remember November 5th? The Thunder up 22, cruising, then watching it all dissolve in a 121-119 choke job that handed them their first loss of the season. Deni Avdija went nuclear—26 points, 10 rebounds, nine assists—and Portland came roaring back to life like they’d spent halftime reading motivational posters about believing in yourself. 

Here’s the reality check: Portland’s at +100000 to win the Finals. Put your betting calculators to one side. Those odds mean that if you bet $1 on the Trail Blazers ending 2026 as champions, you’re not going to see it come back. This was a gorgeous upset, the kind of game that makes you remember why sports are magical, but let’s not confuse one November evening with championship DNA. 

Minnesota Timberwolves

Minnesota took OKC down 112-107 in mid-December, and this one felt different. No buzzer-beater chaos, no fluky shooting night. The Wolves just outplayed them, leaning on the defensive identity that has made them dangerous in recent years. With Anthony Edwards and Rudy Gobert starting, anything is possible, as we saw in the deserved win against the Thunder and as their +2800 championship odds prove. 

Those odds tell the whole story—good enough to be taken seriously, not good enough to be feared. Minnesota’s got pieces. They can make life hell for elite offenses. But can they win four out of seven against OKC in a playoff series? That’s asking them to find consistency they haven’t shown all season. They’re more “trap game in Round 2” than “legitimate Finals contender,” but in a conference this loaded, trap games matter.

Phoenix Suns

Devin Booker with 0.7 seconds left. Dagger. Suns 108-105. Jordan Goodwin buried eight threes on his way to 26 points, but it was Booker’s shot that’ll play on highlight reels for months. 

Phoenix is 21-14 and +17500 to win it all. That’s the betting market’s polite way of saying “slim-to-no chance.” The Suns have been maddeningly inconsistent this year, capable of toppling the league’s best one night and losing to tanking teams the next. Do they have playoff ambitions? Sure. Every team in the hunt thinks they’ve got a shot. But between defensive issues and the sheer meat grinder of the Western Conference, this feels like a first-round exit waiting to happen. That Booker shot, though? Cinema. 

Charlotte Hornets

Let’s revisit that scene from January 5th. Charlotte 124, OKC 97. Brandon Miller went 7-for-10 from deep on his way to 28 points. Kon Knueppel added 23. The Hornets led by 31 at one point. This wasn’t a competitive game that slipped away—this was a public execution on Oklahoma City’s home floor, the first time they’d scored fewer than 101 all season.

Charlotte’s 13-23. They’re +100000 longshots. They have zero business competing for anything beyond ping-pong balls. And yet they demolished the defending champs so thoroughly that Shai managed only nine points on 3-for-12 shooting by halftime. LaMelo Ball made a circus one-legged corner jumper while standing on the out-of-bounds line just because he could. 

Finals ambitions? Come on. This was the basketball gods reminding everyone that 82-game seasons are weird, unpredictable, and occasionally hilarious.

Embed tweet here – https://x.com/bovadaofficial/status/2008397703294619819?s=46&t=Jxc74bqcdlQ9Bjed4TR1Jw 

Miami Heat

Andrew Wiggins’ three-pointer with 31 seconds left. Heat 122-120. Bam Adebayo erupted for 30 points and a career-high six threes, but it was Wiggins—remember him?—burying the clutch shot that sealed it. Miami outworked OKC on the glass, grabbing 21 offensive rebounds to Oklahoma City’s five, and basically bludgeoned them into submission.

The Heat are 21-20 with +8000 Finals odds. They’re hovering around mediocrity, missing Tyler Herro and other key pieces, and probably headed for a first-round bounce. But—and here’s the thing about Miami—they’re also the team nobody wants to draw in April. That Heat Culture nonsense is real. They grind, they make life miserable, they turn playoff series into fistfights. Are they winning the Finals? No. But sleeping on them completely? That’s how you end up going home early.

Indiana Pacers

Just mere days ago. Andrew Nembhard, 27 points and 11 assists. Jarace Walker, career-high 26. The Pacers—11-35, completely decimated by injuries, sitting at an absurd +200000 to win the Finals—outlasted OKC 117-114 in a Finals rematch that felt like an alternate universe.

Walker hit four free throws in the final 10 seconds to ice it. Indiana’s season has been a disaster, one of those years where everything that could go wrong did. And for one Friday night, none of it mattered. They beat the defending champs straight-up, holding off a late rally, reminding everyone that regular-season games are weird and variance is real and sometimes a +200000 underdog just outplays you.