SAN ANTONIO — These two Western Conference teams were logical choices to open the season against each other, since they might be the last ones standing when it’s time to crown a conference champ.

Such was the case last spring with the Oklahoma City Thunder and San Antonio Spurs, and they went to a seventh game in the conference finals and laid the foundation for a rivalry that could last the next few years.

But little was evident Tuesday, when the Thunder made quite the opening statement while Victor Wembanyama could barely make a shot.

For one game, at least, OKC was a more dominant team, by a surprising margin here at the home of a very real threat. It was more than a season opener; it was an opportunity to size up their likely biggest threat.

“We tried to take lessons from last season, we played them a lot,” said Thunder coach Mark Daigneault. “We learned a little more about them and they learned about us.”

Not only was the Shai Gilgeous-Alexander carryover evident, but so is OKC’s defense, which “carried us,” said Jalen Williams. That combination, along with depth, helped OKC win a championship two years ago and come within a game of returning to the NBA Finals last year.

“This game really doesn’t mean that much,” said Shai. “But we wanted to get ourselves going in the right direction.”

Here are the takeaways from OKC’s convincing 116-104 road win:

1. Chet helps keep Wemby in check

There was a nagging question that clouded OKC all off-season: How much, if any, was Chet Holmgren spooked by being badly outperformed in the conference finals against Wemby?

There were times in that series where it appeared Holmgren had simply surrendered. That’s how vast the gap was between him and Wemby.

Well, of all the players who stepped on the floor Tuesday, it was Holmgren who had much to prove and needed to stand tallest. Which he did, doing his part to force the most frustrating offensive game in Wemby’s career.

Wemby didn’t make a first half basket, shot 1-13 for the game with four turnovers, his lone basket coming on a tip-in just before the end of the third quarter. He blamed most of his troubles on being “indecisive” and that he “might be overthinking it.”

Holmgren wasn’t beating his chest much afterward, other than saying: “Just made a lot of the right plays. Just try to be aggressive.”

Daigneault added: “Chet’s a great defender and a great competitor. He’s always up for the challenge. Happy for him and how he played and after hearing all the noise this summer.”

As for that experience last spring and the fallout that followed, and how he compartmentalized it for the last four months, Holmgren said: “The first thing you have to do is remove your emotion from it. The emotions don’t really help you. You have to look at things objectively. Remove the emotions and look at the tangible things.”

It also helped that OKC, perhaps swayed by Holmgren’s troubles against Wemby, drafted Aday Mara last June, adding another skilled 7-footer to throw at Wemby. Mara (seven points, 12 minutes) held his own in his NBA debut, against an MVP contender. Daigneault said he was convinced, after an impressive preseason by Mara, to put the rookie in a challenging position, and will do so again based on the early returns.

“He was ready to rock and roll and went out there and made plays,” Holmgren said. “We did a great job of going out there and not only making it tough on him but making it tough on their team.”

2. New season, same old Shai

The back-to-back MVP evidently still has a tight grip on the trophy, based on a Game 1-of-82 performance that could only be described as typical Shai.

Meaning: He dribbled to his sweet spots, scored rather effortlessly and put his team in position to win. That he did this against the defending conference champs was all the more impressive … and somewhat normal for him at this point.

Shai scored 32 points in 36 minutes, more proof of his efficiency, and if this keeps up for much of the season, a third MVP will be in play.

“His poise came through,” said Daigneault. “He set a great tone for us. We got him in a lot of spots tonight, which we had emphasized. That was good.”

3. McCain was a pain to the Spurs

Oklahoma City pawned off three rotational guards this offseason mainly for financial reasons: Lu Dort, Isaiah Joe and Aaron Wiggins. But another reason was because Jared McCain, who arrived during last season, was impressive enough to offset those losses.

And he continued to do so in the opener by scoring 20 points and perfectly complementing Shai with timely 3-pointers (making six of eight), a handful on open looks after the defense concentrated on Shai.

“That’s half the battle, finding the window and the gap to get off your shot,” McCain said. “I just try to find any window where the defender’s not looking my way.”

McCain said his chemistry with Shai is much improved. McCain wasn’t sure how he’d fit next to one of the game’s biggest scorers once arriving from the 76ers, but Shai made the transition simple.

“I was a little nervous,” McCain said, “didn’t know how he would be. Well, whenever he needs me, I’m right there. He’s awesome as a person and obviously as a player. Paying with a back-to-back MVP is special.”

4. On guarded

Spurs coach Mitch Johnson opened the season by going with a three-guard starting lineup, explaining his reasoning by saying “they’re all talented.”

Or it could be seen as a way to placate Dylan Harper without demoting De’Aaron Fox. There was a belief that the Spurs would all be forced to start Harper after the two players went in opposite directions during the NBA Finals — Harper was brilliant and the Spurs’s second-most reliable player, while Fox struggled badly against the Knicks both in performance and decision-making.

So this was a compromise of sorts, using Harper and Fox with Stephon Castle. While the smallish lineup wouldn’t work in most situations because of potential mismatches, the Spurs do have the ultimate bail-out artist in 7-4 Wemby as a last line of defense at the rim. Wemby showed as much with six blocked shots.

As for Fox, he was the Spurs’ most useful player, with 14 points, seven rebounds and seven assists.

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