Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nikola Subject is undergoing chemotherapy after being diagnosed with testicular cancergeneral manager Sam Presti announced Thursday October 30.
“(The subject) did not want to make this information public before having started the actual treatments, which he did,” Presti, 47, told reporters. “He’s been here, he’s training, he’s training through this process. As we all know, it would be a difficult treatment process to go through.”
The Thunder selected Topic 20, with the 12th overall pick in 2024 NBA Draft before a torn ACL sidelined him for the entire 2024-25 season.
The team then announced in early October that he would miss four to six weeks to start this season after undergoing a “testicular procedure,” but did not provide further details. Presti said Thursday that the procedure was necessary to determine whether he had testicular cancer and that a biopsy confirmed his diagnosis.
The subject has not yet made its way NBA his debut and there is no timetable for his return to action, although Presti said Topic’s doctors are “extremely positive” about his long-term prospects.
“Our only expectation of it is to focus on that,” he said. “That’s his biggest priority. He’ll come back and play basketball as soon as he can, but obviously we’re not putting any delays or expectations on that. He has all of our support, encouragement and love.”
Presti added, “He has a wonderful group of oncologists at OU and MD Anderson, and they are extremely positive about his outlook on this situation.
Topic is not the first NBA player to be diagnosed with testicular cancer during his career. Former Denver Nuggets player Nene received his diagnosis during the 2007-08 season and missed 76 days of action. He eventually returned to the field and played for another 11 years afterward.
“(Topic) is a truly remarkable, remarkable guy,” Presti said. “I think everyone knows that, that’s what surrounds him. Extraordinarily mature, composed, resilient. He has all the tools you could ask for from someone to face and overcome the situation.”
Topic reflected over the summer on what it meant to miss his rookie season, explaining that he wanted to take positives from an otherwise devastating injury.
“It was tough, you know? I didn’t play a basketball game for a long time, and it was really tough,” he said in a video released by the Thunder via YouTube in July. “But, as you go through this process, you learn something about yourself that you didn’t know you had. You didn’t know how strong you were or how strong human bodies are. I will say I took the positives out of it and learned from it.”
“I feel good now,” he added. “It was a little hard at first, especially in back-to-back games. It was kind of weird having to play back-to-back games. I don’t know, it was weird. I didn’t know what to do: sleep, take a nap. It was really weird, but I’m getting used to it.”
The Thunder will host the Washington Wizards on Thursday night at 8 p.m. ET.
