Nikola Topic, guard for the NBA’s Oklahoma City Thunder, is undergoing chemotherapy treatment for testicular cancer, team officials announced Thursday.
Topic, 20, underwent a biopsy in Houston to diagnose the problem earlier in October, according to the Thunder. General manager Sam Presti said Topic asked the team not to disclose his diagnosis until he began treatment.
“Our only expectations from him are to focus on that,” Presti said at a news conference. “It’s his most important priority. He will come back to play basketball when he is able.but we obviously don’t impose any duration or expectation on this. He has all our support, encouragement and love.
Topic, of Serbian descent, was selected by the Thunder with the 12th pick in the 2024 NBA draft, but missed the entire 2024-25 season with an ACL injury while his teammates won the franchise’s first title in Oklahoma City.
Coming into the season, he was expected to provide a boost off the bench to a Thunder team struggling with several injuries.
“He has all the tools you could ask for in someone to confront and overcome the situation,” Presti said Thursday.
Nearly 10,000 people in the United States will be diagnosed with testicular cancer in 2025, and the Five-year survival rates in people diagnosed with localized testicular cancer is 99%, according to the American Cancer Society.
With news feed services
