Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nikola Topic made his NBA debut Thursday after being diagnostic diagnosed with cancer before the 2025-26 season.
Topic played 12 minutes off the bench for the Thunder in a loss to the Bucks, recording 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
His NBA debut came four months after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at the age of 20.
Nikola Topic is in his second season with Oklahoma City after being drafted 12th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft. He missed the entire 2024-25 season with a torn ACL.
Originally from Serbia, Topic entered the match to a standing ovation. You can watch the video of the special moment here.
After the game, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault talked about what it was like to see Topic finally on the court after a long and difficult journey.
“I’m just delighted for him,” he said, according to ESPN. “He’s obviously been through a lot of adversity in his life over the last couple of years. He’s a young man that all he wants to do is play basketball and that’s been taken away from him several times, and so for him to work to this point, to get on the court is a great accomplishment.
“Definitely a very good feel-good evening for his family, for him and for our team despite the fact that we didn’t play our best game.”
