Oklahoma City’s heartwarming story could also include a big chapter on the field.
While the Thunder have been on top of the NBA world for the past two seasons, one of their players has gone through some of the toughest battles an NBA player can endure. After entering the league with a torn ACL and missing his freshman season, Nikola Topic’s preseason cancer diagnosis further delayed his NBA debut.
Going into the season, there was a lot of uncertainty about whether Topic would even be able to take the field at any point this season. However, he managed to overcome the abundance of adversity that came his way and debuted for the Thunder against the Milwaukee Bucks just before the All-Star break.
In that game, he scored two points and added a rebound and an assist in 12 minutes of action. Even if the numbers don’t jump out at you, Topic’s mere presence on the field was something to marvel at.
Given Topic’s journey since joining the Thunder, it would be more than understandable if the rest of the season was simply a tune-up period for him in hopes of getting him ready to play next season. While that’s more or less the case, his performance against the Brooklyn Nets on Friday night showed that he may already be ready to contribute.
In Friday’s win, Topic had nine points, three rebounds and two assists and even committed a flagrant foul along the way. While his conditioning will likely prevent him from playing long stretches, his 11 minutes against the Nets showed that he can be a solid ball-handling presence for about a quarter of the game, which is huge because Oklahoma City will miss Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Ajay Mitchell for a bit longer.
Alongside Jared McCain, Topic is a new infusion of ball-handling and playmaking that could be just enough to elevate the Thunder against some of their upcoming tough opponents. While Topic also recorded three turnovers in every game and was up and down defensively, these were nothing more than typical growing pains for a rookie guard, especially one who had to wait a season and a half after being drafted to even get on the court.
It remains to be seen whether Topic will be part of the rotation in this next stretch, but it’s clear that Mark Daigneault has an additional option at guard, at least as long as the injury report continues to look like it currently does.
