Thunder Embarrass Suns in NBA Cup Quarterfinal

The Phoenix Suns were handled in eye-opening fashion by the Oklahoma City Thunder in Wednesday night's 138-89 loss in NBA Cup quarterfinal action.

This is easily the most humbling loss Phoenix has suffered in the 2025-26 season, and tonight marked the NBA's largest margin of victory thus far.

OKC now improves to 24-1 on the season as their historic start continues while the Suns drop to 14-11 on the year. The Thunder advance to the NBA Cup semifinals this weekend in Las Vegas.

Phoenix struggled mightily without Devin Booker in the mix, who was ruled out ahead of game time due to his groin injury. The Suns shot sub-40% from the field and three-point land while turning the ball over 21 times.

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander returned from his elbow injury and led all players with 28 points.

The Thunder led by as much as 53 in the dominant win.

First Quarter

The Suns began the game with a turnover immediately on their opening possession, setting the stage for what's to come.

OKC got off to an 11-2 run, aided by three early Phoenix turnovers as the Suns weren't able to keep pace in the beginning stages of the game. The Thunder made their first five-of-seven shots entering the first break in action.

The Suns hung their deficit around ten before the Thunder pushed their advantage to 33-17, forcing Jordan Ott to call a timeout in hopes of settling his guys down.

It didn't work, as OKC extended their run to 14-2 to establish a 20-point lead before entering the second quarter with a 38-23 edge.

The Thunder, who were top-five in field goal percentage entering tonight, shot above 60% from the field and three in the opening twelve minutes.

Second Quarter

Phoenix and Oklahoma City swapped buckets to initially begin the second, though the Suns managed to hit a 9-2 run to draw their deficit down to 13 in the first three minutes of play.

OKC managed to keep Phoenix within that distance through the bulk of the second quarter as the Suns weren't able to get the most out of looks early in the shot clock.

Phoenix dwindled their disadvantage down to 12 before the Thunder quickly found their footing, hitting their stride on a quick 8-0 run near the final minutes of the first half.

Oklahoma City managed to hit their final four shots (all three-pointers) of the second quarter to comfortably enter the locker room up 74-48.

Gilgeous-Alexander led all scorers with 17 points at the break with a plus/minus of +28 in 18 minutes.

Second Half

The Thunder wasted no time out of the gates of the second half, growing their lead up to 36 in the opening minutes.

Things went from bad to worse as the Suns lost Grayson Allen in the third quarter after he was ejected following an altercation with Chet Holmgren, which you can read more about here.

Phoenix, already shorthanded prior to Allen's exit, saw the game quickly evaporate out of control, entering the fourth quarter down 110-72.

After OKC quickly extended their lead to 50+, Ott waved the white flag and emptied his bench with roughly ten minutes left in action to see things out.