The 2025 NBA Draft came and went, leaving many NBA franchises with shiny new rookies.
The league’s teams left with the best overall rookies, mid-first-round picks hoping to outperform and second-rounders looking to make a name for themselves.
While the recently crowned champion Oklahoma City Thunder went with Thomas Sorber and Brooks Barnhizer, their most potentially exciting rookie could have been drafted a year ago.
Nikola Topic, selected 12th overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, will play the upcoming season as a rookie after sitting out last year due to injury. He now joins a 2025 draft class that has far more buzz than his own, possessing a variety of potentially franchise-altering talents.
Topic earned draft acclaim thanks to some white-hot play in the ABA two seasons ago. A true playmaker, Topic portrayed a downhill scoring attack that, combined with his elite passing ability, had teams considering him among the top five. A knee injury suffered after arriving in the EuroLeague put his stock in jeopardy, and it took the ever-patient Thunder to stagger him at No. 12 for him to find his NBA home.
For the final season – the one in which OKC walked away with Larry O’Brien – Topic waited patiently during his rehab. But Oklahoma City’s top decision-maker, Sam Presti, confirmed during his end-of-season press conference that Topic would indeed play Summer League in the coming weeks.
Topic was one of the youngest players in his own class, being just 19 years old. And despite gaudy stat lines with Mega, he’ll still need time to sort things out at the NBA level. Although Summer League provides a great setting for that.
Despite having relatively few holes on their overall roster, the Thunder could certainly use a ball-handling, pass-first playmaker in reserve.
