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Thunder burned by questionable call in the closing seconds of NBA Cup semis

Originally posted on Larry Brown Sports
By Renzo Pocholo Salao | Last updated Dec 14, 2025 9:20 AM ET

The San Antonio Spurs benefited from a controversial call during their NBA Cup semifinal matchup Saturday against the Oklahoma City Thunder.

The Spurs led the Thunder 109-108 with 3.7 seconds left in the elimination game at T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. Victor Wembanyama inbounded to a streaking Devin Vassell as the latter was trying to outrun Thunder guard Alex Caruso.

Vassell lost the ball out of bounds along the sideline, but not before Caruso was called for a personal foul. With the Thunder out of timeouts, the defending champions were unable to challenge the ruling.

Alex Caruso can't believe he was called for the foul, as the ball went off a Spurs player (with replays)
The Thunder have no timeout, and therefore cannot challenge pic.twitter.com/KTKGeTCZv9
— MrBuckBuck (@MrBuckBuckNBA) December 14, 2025

The Thunder could have gotten the ball back with a chance to win the game at the buzzer. Instead, Vassell sank two free throws as the Spurs won 111-109 to advance to the NBA Cup Finals. The result also ended the Thunder’s 16-game winning streak.

Wembanyama returned from a 12-game absence to finish with 22 points, 9 rebounds, and 2 blocks across 21 minutes of action. Wemby certainly backed up his talk after making some pointed comments directed at Chet Holmgren.

This article first appeared on Larry Brown Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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