NBA star Nikola Topic’s injuries continued ahead of the new season.
THE Oklahoma City Thunder The prospect, 20, missed his entire rookie year with a torn ACL.
The subject was last year’s 12th overall pick. NBA Draft.
A 6-foot-6 Serbian, the Thunder were already aware of Topic’s injury when they drafted him in June 2024.
He played in Summer League this year and seemed to be back to full form.
But the reigning NBA champions announced that Topic had suffered another setback.
The Thunder revealed Monday that the guard had undergone testicular surgery.
He will be re-evaluated in four to six weeks, depending on Tier.
Oklahoma has not revealed further details on Topic’s injury as the NBA season begins in just under a fortnight.
MVP Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Luguentz Dort, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Aaron Wiggins and Isaiah Joe are all ahead of Topic on the depth chart.
But the Serbian impressed during the summer and will hope to make an impact on his return.
“He was good,” Chet Holmgren told reporters last week.
“I played pickup a few times with him last week, it really shows in the way he sees the game.
“Even without the ball in his hands, given the way he cuts.
“He will continue to improve very quickly, he has a serious approach to the game.”
Topic made his professional debut in Serbia aged just 16 for Red Star.
He is the son of Milenko Topic, a Serbian basketball coach and former player.
New rights deal
The NBA has signed an 11-year deal with three networks for league rights starting with the 2025-2026 season.
And there will be no games on TNT for the first time since the channel’s launch in 1988.
The Walt Disney Company will continue to present the league with 80 regular season games on ESPN and ABC.
They will also broadcast approximately 18 first and second round playoff games, a conference finals series in 10 of the 11 years, and remain the home of the NBA Finals.
NBC will return as NBA broadcaster for the first time since 2002.
The network will broadcast up to 100 games per season across its channels and streaming service Peacock.
It will also host the NBA All-Star and broadcast approximately 28 first and second round playoff games.
NBC will air a conference finals series for six of the 11 years, rotating with new broadcaster Amazon Prime.
Amazon will stream 66 NBA regular season games, including one on Black Friday.
The streaming service also hosts the final stages of the NBA Cup and the entire Play-In tournament.
Prime will also broadcast about a third of the first and second round playoff games.
Topic won the NBA championship last season even though he didn’t compete once for the Thunder.
“Just being able to play with these guys, who are awesome, and just being a part of the team now, it’s amazing,” Topic said this summer.
“It was weird at first. It was like, ‘What do I do now? Do I sleep? Do I eat?’
“When do I do stuff?” But later everything got better and I think it will only get better.
During the 2025 Summer League, Topic averaged 11.0 points, 7.3 assists and 3.3 rebounds per game across three contests.
