Victor Wembanyama is relishing the chance of forming a rivalry between the San Antonio Spurs and the Oklahoma City Thunder, but he insisted that it should not be forced. 

Wembanyama registered 12 points and nine rebounds as Keldon Johnson and Stephon Castle combined for 49 points to help the Spurs to a 130-110 victory on Tuesday. 

It was the second time in 10 days that the Spurs had beaten the NBA champions, having eliminated the Western Conference leaders from the NBA Cup semi-finals. 

Indeed, it was Oklahoma City's second-largest regular season loss over the past two campaigns, behind a 27-point defeat to the Los Angeles Lakers back in April. 

The Spurs improved to 22-7 this season, and will take on the Thunder again on Christmas Day, though Wembanyama was keen not to label the game as a rivalry just yet.

"It feels like saying it's a rivalry would be a weird thing because it's something that builds naturally," Wembanyama said.

"I didn't say that it's impossible that it can be [a rivalry] in the future. I hope it will be soon. But we're definitely getting closer.

"They're going to be locked in [on Christmas] more than any time before, probably. It's a resourceful team, but we're going to be there too."

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Though Wembanyama insisted that a potential rivalry could be brewing, he referenced a clash in his homeland between Ligue 1 giants Paris Saint-Germain and Marseille as something that constitutes a proper rivalry.

"The signs are the arena is packed, the energy is different, the physicality from the first to the 48th minutes is up there," Wembanyama added.

"It's hard to describe, but it's like [in soccer] when PSG plays Marseille in France. This is a real rivalry. It's something that's built [over] years and years.

"It's not something you can just make up like this. It doesn't take away that it's a good matchup. But it takes a lot."

The Spurs face Oklahoma City three more times this season, and head into their latest game with the longest active winning streak at seven games, which is also the franchise's longest since 2018-19. 

Shai Gilgeous-Alexander led the Thunder with a game-high 33 points, but he was unable to get to the free throw line as often as he has done this season. 

He shot a team-high five free throws, but the Thunder finished the game with only seven attempts, compared with 24 for the Spurs.

Gilgeous-Alexander did, however, log his fourth consecutive 30-point outing, the third-longest streak of his career. 

"They really played the game on their terms on both ends of the floor," he said.

"They got whatever they wanted offensively, and then, defensively, they had us stagnant, had us playing over the top of them for the most part.

"When you play against a good team, you can't play like that for long periods of time because it'll chip away at itself. And next thing you know, you look up and there's a big lead."