Victor Wembanyama returns as Spurs face Thunder in NBA Cup semis

The Oklahoma City Thunder have matched the best 25-game start in NBA history and will seek out another victory when they face the San Antonio Spurs in the NBA Cup semifinals in Las Vegas on Saturday night.

The Thunder and 2015-16 Golden State Warriors are the lone teams in NBA history to win 24 of their first 25 games. Golden State also won Game No. 26.

However, the Spurs will have star center Victor Wembanyama (calf) back on the floor after a 12-game absence.

Oklahoma City owns a franchise-record 16-game winning streak with the victories coming by an average of 20.8 points. The last three contests were decided by a total of 100 points (21, 30 and 49).

The defending champions have reeled off five straight wins in NBA Cup play by an average of 24.8 points, including Wednesday night's 138-89 steamrolling of the visiting Phoenix Suns.

A victory over the Spurs in the West final would place Oklahoma City in Tuesday's title game against either the Orlando Magic or New York Knicks. Those two squads battle in the East final on Saturday.

Last season, the Thunder reached the NBA Cup championship game before losing 97-81 to the Milwaukee Bucks.

Oklahoma City is highly motivated to win it all this time.

"We should be in a good position," reigning MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. "We're doing a lot better than we did last year. We'll see how it goes and go out there and try to get two Ws."

The Spurs are feeling pretty good themselves by winning 17 of their first 24 games. Learning Friday that Wembanyama will be back was a big development for them.

"I feel great. I'm ready to go," Wembanyama said during a media session in Las Vegas. "I think we've done the right things over however long it's been, the past few weeks."

San Antonio coach Mitch Johnson said Wembanyama would be under a minutes restriction and would be subbed out of the game earlier than usual.

"I expect him to play," Johnson said. "Still ongoing conversations of what that looks like."

The Spurs went 9-3 with Wembanyama on the sidelines. One of those victories was Wednesday's 132-119 quarterfinal victory over the Los Angeles Lakers.

Reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle produced a season-best 30 points on 10-of-14 shooting and collected 10 rebounds while De'Aaron Fox added 20 points.

Fox said the Spurs will not be intimidated by Oklahoma City, which has won eight of the past 10 meetings with San Antonio.

"That team just won a championship. They're on a roll right now," Fox said. "Obviously, that's a tough task. At the end of the day, we go into every game feeling like we can win. We have a group where we feel like we can beat anybody. Crazy things happen. ... Anything can happen on any given night."

Toppling the Thunder would certainly rate as a big score on the ledger.

Oklahoma City is agonizingly close to being 25-0 as their lone defeat occurred in a stunning manner. On Nov. 4, the Thunder led the Trail Blazers by 22 points before squandering the lead and Portland left the building with a 121-119 home victory.

Gilgeous-Alexander always stays focused on the next step, not the one that is over.

"We hold ourselves to a high standard," Gilgeous-Alexander said. "What's important is getting better no matter where we're at today, we want to be better tomorrow."

The Thunder also are highly motivated to get two more wins.

"There's something on the line," Oklahoma City breakout reserve Ajay Mitchell said. "It's a great opportunity to come here and get better and try to go win it."

--Field Level Media