Some teams have attempted to thread the needle of two timelines. Achieving success here and now as well as the elements of development for sustainability.
The Oklahoma City Thunder did it organically.
As the Thunder make the Western Conference Finals for the first time since 2016, many eyes are still on their future.
They are the youngest team in the playoffs and are still considered the favorite to win the NBA Finals. This would be the first time the Thunder lifted the Larry O’Brien Trophy in Bricktown.
No, the basis of this article is not to examine the mountain of future NBA draft picks that Sam Presti finds himself on. We have plenty of time for that. But rather someone who is already on the Oklahoma City roster.
This season, Nikola Topic has sat on the bench in street clothes all season as he recovers from another knee injury.
Topic fell to 12th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft due to these injuries after being considered a top-five talent in his class.
The Oklahoma City Thunder were opportunistic in selecting him with the most talent-rich roster in the NBA, allowing them to wear the Topic red jersey for the entire season.
However, it’s impossible not to think about what this Thunder unit would look like with a healthy Topic.
Of course, with a rotation as loaded as Mark Daigneault is more than willing to put in some minutes, he’ll be hard to find, but the 19-year-old point guard offers a unique skill set not found on this Thunder roster.
The ability to create offense for others as well as turn the corner to get down to the rim could really help Oklahoma City’s secondary unit. The question is, how well does his game and personal creation translate to the next level? If he’s close to 1:1, he’s more than a useful player for the OKC Thunder.
Despite his shooting limitation (while having upside) and defensive deficiencies, Oklahoma City can mask that end of the court for the youngster by flanking him with all-defensive caliber players.
We won’t know until October how Topic helps the Thunder, but he’s still lurking in the shadows of what has been the best team in the league all season long.
