Victor Wembanyama, San Antonio Spurs Young Stars Just Killed OKC Dynasty Before It Really Began

For the eighth straight season, the NBA will have a different champion than it had the year before.

The Oklahoma City Thunder, despite its three best players being 27, 25 and 24 years old, have been eliminated by a team that's even younger than them.

The San Antonio Spurs were on the other side of the Western Conference Finals, and their star trio goes 22, 21 and 20 years old.

And all three of Victor Wembanyama, Stephon Castle and Dylan Harper were instrumental in the Spurs' 111-103 victory in Game 7.

Of course, the Thunder could certainly be back. You can expect tons of rumors about Giannis Antetokounmpo and other star trade targets to OKC—especially considering how this Western Conference Finals ended.

But as both teams are presently constituted, it's hard to watch what we just did without thinking the Spurs have somehow, years ahead of schedule, leapfrogged a team many assumed could stack multiple titles.

Headlines from some of media's biggest names and outlets last summer included:

• With talent and assets to burn, young Thunder poised for potential dynasty
• Why this Oklahoma City Thunder big 3 might be the one to start a dynasty
• Why Thunder are perfectly set up to be next NBA dynasty after winning first championship in OKC
• This Isn't the Thunder's Moment—It's Their Era.

It's not hard to see why that was the prevailing take. Again, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren were all either in or a few years shy of their primes. OKC's draft record and ability to develop prospects was (and maybe still is) unrivaled. And the Thunder had a pile of future draft assets to use in potential deals.

There have been several recent champions that had us thinking, "OK, this one can end the no-repeat streak." That was certainly said of the Denver Nuggets and Boston Celtics, but neither seemed set up quite as well as OKC.

And, to be sure, there's a chance the Thunder get right back on top in a year or two. The 1990s and 2000s Spurs were a dynasty, but their five championships were spread from 1999 through 2014.

But the NBA didn't have nearly as many rules in place to prevent dynasties back then. And at the very least, the arrival of this Spurs team (and the speed with which they arrived) makes multiple Thunder titles far more difficult to imagine.

Much like the Minnesota Timberwolves with the Nuggets, San Antonio seems almost tailor-made to beat OKC.

Wembanyama just put a bold, underlined and maybe even italicized exclamation point on his domination of Holmgren. Their rivalry stretches back to a U19 game between USA and France, but Wemby just averaged 27.3 points, 10.9 rebounds and 2.7 blocks in the conference finals, while Holmgren put up 10.7 points, 7.1 rebounds and 1.1 blocks.

In Game 7, Chet had four points on 1-of-2 shooting. Wemby did this:

That's the biggest advantage (and it's one San Antonio figures to have over every team outside the Nuggets), but the waves of defense the Spurs can throw at SGA, and the rest of OKC's perimeter creators, aren't far behind.

That starts with second- and first-year guards Castle and Harper, both of whom have plenty of developmental runway over the next several years.

SGA is one of the best offensive players in league history, but the Spurs have multiple lengthy and athletic guards and wings who can at least make him uncomfortable. They certainly did in the conference finals, when Gilgeous-Alexander shot 40.9 percent from the field and 28.6 percent from the line.

Again, the Thunder have avenues to improve. The assets and the contracts of Luguentz Dort and Isaiah Hartenstein could be moved pretty easily. After the series he just had, OKC might even be inclined to trade Chet.

But the Spurs presumably have massive strides to take without doing anything. Wemby, Castle and Harper are nowhere near their primes. Even De'Aaron Fox (28), Devin Vassell (25) and Keldon Johnson (26) are all on the right side of 30. If Carter Bryant becomes a consistent three-point shooter, he could be a nightmarish three-and-D forward.

San Antonio hasn't even won the title yet. They could lose the Finals to the New York Knicks and still feel like the safest bet in the league to finally end the era of parity.

Landing Wemby is obviously the biggest part of that. But two more top-five picks in the two years following Wembanyama's draft (something the league has literally now outlawed) put them over the top.

For perhaps the first time ever, an NBA team might win the championship in the same year it became the consensus for "best young core."

That should have every other organization in the league even more worried than it was about OKC 11 months ago.