This Oklahoma City Thunder team has and is going through some injury woes.
Jalen Williams, Isaiah Hartenstein, Alex Caruso, Ajay Mitchell have all missed significant time this season, and even Shai Gilgeous-Alexander has now missed the final five games before the NBA All-Star break.
This led to a tough slate throughout January and into mid-February, but the team continued to post the most wins in the NBA, of course leading the Western Conference with a 42-14 record despite injuries.
But even in the midst of a 5-6 stretch over the final 11 games before the break, the Thunder had some exciting happenings within this team.
First up, one of, if not the craziest, feats of the entire season: Nikola Topic making his NBA debut after being diagnosed with testicular cancer just four months ago. Incredible courage and tenacity and an even more incredible story.
Projected as a top-five draft pick in 2024, Topic is now making his first steps in the NBA despite being sidelined during his first year in the league due to a torn ACL. And, as we hope to see him progress, Oklahoma City could potentially need him on the court as he still struggles with injuries throughout the roster.
He might not contribute right away, but head coach Mark Daigneault having him now in his arsenal is important in itself. In 12 minutes in a loss to the Milwaukee Bucks last night, he didn’t necessarily reach NBA level, but he didn’t really need to, returning to an NBA court just four months after a cancer diagnosis shows his potential in and of itself.
And along with the introduction of Topic was the arrival of Jared McCain recently just before the trade deadline.
Retired from the Philadelphia 76ers, McCain came in and brought great value to this crumbling Thunder team. Having 32 points and five threes in his first three games as a Thunder showed his ability to fit in with this team, and Oklahoma City fans were more than receptive.
He’s someone the Thunder needed and general manager Sam Presti went after him knowing Daigneault would put him to good use, as we saw. McCain has played more than 20 minutes in the last two games and played 14 in his first contest in Oklahoma City.
It may have felt like the second quarter of the first half of this season didn’t go the best for this team, but there should still be plenty of optimism for the defending champions as the team continues to grow and heal.
