In the 2024 NBA Draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder selected point guard Nikola Topic with the No. 12 pick. When they flipped the draft card that night, they knew he would be sidelined for his true rookie season, a 2024-25 campaign in which the Thunder won a title, Topic recovering from a torn ACL suffered just before the 2024 NBA draft.
After playing in the NBA Summer League for the Bricktown Ballers in July, he had a strong performance in the team’s first preseason game of the season. Although after that game in Charlotte, the Oklahoma City Thunder announced that he had undergone testicular surgery, which Sam Presti later explained, revealing that Topic had unfortunately been diagnosed. testicular cancer. This has left him sidelined for the entire 2025-26 campaign thus far, as he has received chemotherapy.
Subject completed cancer treatment new year round and has been seen working on the court before the start of some Thunder games since then. On Monday, the 20-year-old goalkeeper was assigned to the team’s G League affiliatethe OKC Blue, as they battled the Sioux Falls Skyforce in Topic’s debut.
“Great accomplishment. I can’t say enough about him as a guy. His mental toughness, his maturity and his resilience. … We’re all collectively excited that he’s back playing basketball. I know he’s missed it a lot. It’s so good for him mentally to get his feet back under him,” OKC Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said of Topic. in Los Angeles before the Thunder vs. Lakers affair.
In this competition, the former lottery pick came off the bench for Daniel Dixon’s side. The second he entered the game, he was tasked with triggering a baseline out-of-bounds play. Before a tick disappeared from the clock and his first professional NBA minute was counted, he had an assist for Payton Sandford.
The next time, Topic used the pick and roll to find blue-liner Viktor Lakhin for an easy bucket, which sparked a trend of high-level passing from the point guard. Including a no-look lob to Lakhin to put the big man behind the defense and into the charity stripe.
Perhaps his most impressive play was creating a triple for himself off the dribble in his first NBA G League game.
Subject was in control all night and a passer providing energy that allowed the OKC Blue to be successful against the Skyforce defense. He finished the night with seven points, one rebound to pair with seven assists while shooting 3 of 5 from the floor and 1 of 2 on 3-point attempts in 16 minutes of work.
It remains to be seen how many games G League Topic will record or what its next steps will be, but this was a great first step for the Thunder lottery pick in its return-to-play protocol.
Stay tuned Thunder on SI for complete coverage of the Oklahoma City Thunder season and Nikola Topic’s return to the hard court.
