OKLAHOMA CITY – The San Antonio Spurs are one win away from the NBA Finals.

As the Spurs prepare for a winner-take-all Game 7 against the defending champion Oklahoma City Thunder on Saturday night, the stakes could not be higher. A trip to the NBA Finals awaits the winner. For San Antonio, it’s an opportunity to take another major step in the franchise’s resurgence and announce the arrival of a new era led by Victor Wembanyama.

“I know there’ll be a lot of added attention, a lot of eyes watching,” Spurs coach Mitch Johnson said. “It’ll be a hostile environment, but we’ve been saying this for a long time: We’ve had a lot of firsts. This one will be a little bit more important or higher-stakes than all the others. That’s the goal as you keep playing and the season gets longer.”

The 62-win Spurs have already exceeded many expectations this season, but they now stand just 48 minutes from returning to the NBA Finals. Their opponent is a 64-win Thunder team that won last year’s championship and has proven its resilience in pressure-packed moments.

Still, San Antonio enters Game 7 with confidence after a dominant Game 6 performance. Wembanyama scored 28 points in just 28 minutes as the Spurs rolled to a convincing victory, extending their season and forcing the decisive game.

For Wembanyama, however, the magnitude of the moment doesn’t change his mindset.

“For me, winning in the NBA today isn’t any more important than winning a regional championship back when I was playing in the U-13 division,” Wembanyama said in French after Game 6. “The competitive drive feels exactly the same.”

That mentality has helped fuel San Antonio throughout a series that has delivered dramatic swings and momentum shifts. The Spurs won a double-overtime thriller in Game 1, dominated Game 4, and overwhelmed Oklahoma City in Game 6 to force the deciding contest.

While some individual games have been lopsided, the series itself has been remarkably competitive. Saturday’s matchup will be the 12th meeting between the teams this season, with San Antonio holding a 7-4 advantage in the previous 11 games.

History is also on the line. This is only the second Game 7 in NBA history featuring two teams that each won at least 62 regular-season games. The last came in 1981, when Boston edged Philadelphia to reach the NBA Finals.

Unlike Oklahoma City star Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, who will be playing in his fourth Game 7, Wembanyama will make his first appearance on basketball’s biggest elimination stage. Several key Spurs rotation players will also be experiencing a Game 7 for the first or second time.

But youth has not prevented this team from embracing the moment.

“I think there’s been a lot of legendary Game 7s and I feel like we’re a group that wants to be a part of that,” Spurs rookie Dylan Harper said. “We want to be a part of that kind of history of Game 7. We’re going to go out there swinging. No matter what, we just going to leave it all on the table.”

The winner will advance to face the New York Knicks in the NBA Finals beginning Wednesday night. The loser will spend the offseason wondering what might have been.

For the Spurs, the opportunity is simple: win one game, reach the Finals, and continue building what could be the next great chapter in franchise history.