On Tuesday evening, the Oklahoma City Thunder opened up the season with a statement road win over the San Antonio Spurs in dominant fashion. The Thunder controlled this game for most of the way, and while things got a little bit closer than they probably needed to in the second half, Oklahoma City still pulled away again late for an easy victory.

Here are two overreactions from the strong performance.

OKC is back as the best team in the NBA

Coming into this season, many projected the best team in the NBA title to be a race between the Thunder, Spurs, and last year's NBA champions, the New York Knicks. Thunder fans maintain that their team would have gone back to the NBA Finals and probably won it had Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell not gotten injured during the playoffs last year, and the team certainly provided some evidence for that claim on Tuesday with their performance in San Antonio, despite Mitchell and Williams themselves having relatively quiet nights.

The Thunder's defensive game plan flummoxed Spurs star Victor Wembanyama, holding him to the worst shooting game of his career at 1-13, and Chet Holmgren also looked much more aggressive and locked in after ending last year's Western Conference Finals with a whimper.

Overall, it's hard to imagine the Thunder looking much more impressive than they did on Tuesday night.

SGA will win his third straight MVP

Thunder star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was the best player on the floor by a country mile on Tuesday, controlling the game and hitting San Antonio with a barrage of contested jumpers to keep them at bay as they attempted to make a comeback.

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SGA has already won two straight NBA MVP's, along with a Finals MVP in 2025, and he somehow looked even better on Tuesday, showing improved confidence from beyond the three-point line and also fairing much more successfully against the physical defense from Stephon Castle, who found some success against him in last year's playoff series.

While it's just one game, SGA certainly made a big early statement to MVP voters with his performance.

In any case, the Thunder will next hit the floor on Thursday evening at home against the Denver Nuggets.