THE Oklahoma City Thunder selected Topic Nikola And Dillon Jones during the first round of the 2024 NBA Draft Wednesday evening.
The Thunder selected Topic with the 12th overall pick. The Serbian guard was originally their only pick in the draft, but OKC returned to the first round to land Jones from Weber State via the New York Knicks with the No. 26 pick.
After the project, general manager Sam Presti and Director of Amateur Rating, Acie Law, addressed the media.
Here are four takeaways from Law and Presti’s press conference:
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Thunder decides ‘action plan’ for Nikola injury Topic
A new NBA collective bargaining agreement established in 2023 allows the league to selectively share medical information based on prospects, rankings and the needs of top teams.
This same deal was also the reason the Thunder felt comfortable selecting an injured player as their first pick in the draft.
Although Topic, who played in the Adriatic League in the 2023-24 season, has been dealing with an injury since January, the organization felt no need to hesitate.
“We have seen all the images,” Presti said. “Everything we’ve seen is something we’re comfortable with. Myself and Donnie Strack, our medical director who has been here for 17 years now, traveled to visit Nikola. He examined him and was able to spend some time with him…And now we’re going to sit down and kind of figure out the course of action for the injury.
After injuring his left knee in January, he intended to return in the spring to complete the remainder of the EuroLeague season, but he would reinjure the same knee in April and not recover. Subject would later be diagnosed with a partially torn ACL.
His return schedule is currently up in the air.
“We approach this situation with extreme optimism given what we’ve seen and what we think we can achieve,” Presti said. “But we expect he probably won’t play for us next season.”
But the Thunder have been in this situation before and are willing to submit to the process that will ultimately lead to their desired outcome.
After selecting forward Chet Holmgren with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA draft, he suffered a Lisfranc foot injury after the NBA Summer League and missed his entire rookie year. But for Holmgren, who averaged 16.5 points, 7.5 rebounds and 2.4 assists per game for the Thunder this season, the redshirt draft plan worked.
Much like Holmgren, the organization plans to have Topic involved in the day-to-day operations of the facility, but it also understands that both players and injuries are different.
“Our experience with Chet and the time we spent with him his rookie year was definitely a factor in how we approached this opportunity,” Presti said. “I think we learned some things from that instance, but they’re totally different players, totally different situations, different ages.
“But I think our ability to view this as an opportunity probably gave us the confidence to make that decision.” »
Topic will not play in the NBA Summer League this year and likely won’t see the floor during the 2023-24 season, but the Thunder are looking to make the transition as smooth as possible.
“When he gets here, he’ll be integrated over time like any other player,” Presti said. “I think there’s some things we learned from Chet that should help him acclimate. He’ll be involved in everything we do.
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Acie Law says age is not an issue with Nikola Topic, the ‘youngest player in the draft’
Topic is almost 19 years old and the youngest player in the 2024 NBA Draft, but that hasn’t deterred the Thunder.
Instead, it was Topic’s maturity that stood out.
The 6-foot-5, 201-pound point guard turned pro at age 16. However, the pressures of the league caused him to grow quickly.
“The EuroLeague is made up of men,” Law said. “They don’t want a young player to dominate their league and succeed.”
After struggling in his first two years, Topic finally found his groove in his third season in the Adriatic League. In 18 games, he averaged 28.4 minutes, 15.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists and one steal.
Topic, who played 13 games with Mega before finishing the season with Crvena zvezda, finished eighth in the league in goals, fifth in assists and scored 20 or more points in eight games during the 2023 season. 24.
He won the Adriatic League’s best prospect award last season and helped Red Star win the league title. Topic was also named MVP of the 2023 FIBA U18 European Championship after leading Serbia to the gold medal.
Although the guard had started to stand out statistically this season, OKC was already watching him.
“We’ve known Nikola for a long time, even at the junior level,” Law said. “His game and his IQ stand out right away, and we match that skill set and that package to his size. You can understand why he was so dominant and so successful.
“I just want to reiterate our excitement that he’s here, that he’s in the building and that he’s a part of what we do.”
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Presti ‘wouldn’t compare Nikola specifically to Josh’
As the Thunder bid farewell to former guard Josh Giddey in a recent trade with the Chicago Bulls for guard Alex Caruso, they were looking for someone to help fill his role.
Giddey, who stands 6-foot-8 and 216 pounds, averaged 12.3 points, 6.4 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game last season, and while Topic may not exactly fit in, he could definitely help.
“I wouldn’t compare Nikola specifically to Josh or any other player in that way,” Presti said. “Guys who are important to their position and who manage the game well, those guys can play all over the field and in different combinations. So we put more emphasis on those skills than trying to replicate a specific role or something like that.
“I don’t think you can have enough people who are able to make decisions on the field. And if you combine that with the size of the field, it certainly increases the effectiveness of those good decisions.
For OKC, the draft pick wasn’t based on the idea that Topic could be a hypothetical replacement for Giddey, but rather on his tangible skillset.
“We usually pick who we think are the best players,” Presti said. “In this particular case, I think one of the reasons we were able to get him was the injury and the fact that he wasn’t as available to practice. But we value his skills a lot, long term.
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Presti couldn’t yet ‘talk about the trade’ regarding surprising Dillon Jones pick
The Thunder’s last-minute trade late in the first round of the NBA draft was a surprise. With the league office not finalizing the deal until late Wednesday night, after Presti’s press conference, NBA rules required the Thunder GM to choose his player carefully.
“I can’t talk about the trade that we made until it’s done,” Presti said. “So I’ll do my best to talk about it as much as I can. But you have to understand that I can’t answer those questions directly.”
Jones, who was touted as a potential second-round pick, was taken by OKC in exchange for five second-round picks in the 2025-27 draft. The 6-foot-2, 230-pound wing was named Big Sky Conference MVP and was the only NCAA player to lead a conference in points, rebounds and assists. He was also one of two players to average 20 points, 10 rebounds and five assists per game this season.
Although he couldn’t speak specifically about Jones, the general manager touched on the overall theme of draft night.
“If you look at the evening as a whole, I think the themes are pretty consistent,” Presti said. “I think tonight there is high processing in attack, high skill level when it comes to vision and passing and that is combined with great players.
“They’re players who can handle the ball and are big enough for their position or are interchangeable. So I think that’s a relatively constant goal for us, and it’s something we value in players.”
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