With his team one win away from a championship, Thunder 2024 lottery pick Nikola Topic has been a forgotten man. He missed the entire season after undergoing surgery to repair a torn anterior cruciate ligament in his left knee last July.
However, Topic could return to action as soon as next month during the Las Vegas Summer League, according to Jordan Davis of The Oklahoman.
“In terms of what he’s doing right now, he’s still X amount of time post-op,” coach Mark Daigneault said. “He’s still return-to-performance. I don’t think he’s the player right now that he will be in training camp. The thing that’s most impressive about him to see is he’s incredibly young, he’s stateside for the first time, in the NBA for the first time, coming off a long-term injury and he’s been unbelievably consistent and mature and professional in his approach. When you watch somebody go through that, you can learn a lot about them.”
Word initially broke weeks before the draft that Topic had suffered a partially torn ACL, so the Thunder weren’t caught off guard by the need for surgery when they drafted the Serbian point guard with the No. 12 overall pick.
Topic, 19, is expected to compete for backup minutes next season. He has a guaranteed salary of $5.2MM in ’25/26, followed by team options of $5.4MM and $7.5MM in his third and fourth seasons.
The organization is pleased by how he attacked his rehab.
“Inserted himself into the mix in a very appropriate way,” Daigneault said. “The guys really respect the way that he approaches things. He’s an old soul. He’s way beyond his years and so that bodes really well for him, regardless where he starts as a player on the court. That stuff translates, and he’s been very impressive with that.”
Topicc averaged 15.1 points, 3.2 rebounds, 5.9 assists and a steal in 18 games with the Adriatic League’s Crvena Zvezda club during the 2023/24 season.
He will never play any meaningful minutes.
you will never post a meaningful comment
See that mute link by my name. Use it and you will handle life and other people better.
Some ppl just belong on Reddit.
Off-Topic comment.
nice
Shouldn’t really be a could. He sat out the whole season, unless the ACL was damaged more than they said at the draft. I get being cautious they don’t need him, but he should run some Summer League.
If I recall, before he tore his ACL he was considered a potential number 1 pick. Great pick by OKC
What a waste of a pick, no wonder Orlando gave up a bunch for Desmond Bane.
Agreed. No Thunder fan should argue otherwise. They drafted him over Kel’el Ware, Jared McCain, Dalton Knecht, Tristan da Silva, Yves Missi, Terrence Shannon Jr., and Ryan Dunn. Yikes. They’re going to try to convince fans that he’s better than all of them??
@cress
holy captain hindsight batman. how do you know that he won’t one day be better than some or all of those guys? none of them have yet to establish themselves as all stars yet. you’re acting like they passed on Shai or Luka.
Topic will get Mitchell’s minutes.
Theyll likely package Jaylin, Kenrich, Dieng, Mitchell (19M) and picks for a better quality player… like Marcus Smart, Grant Williams, Malik Monk, Herb Jones… someone of that ilk.
May not be 15 and 24, could be a future pick. Right now none of those guys are playoff playable, and I think you see how they got gassed a bit, I think another defender to help protect Shai is needed.
Herb on OKC would be fun. If the league stops this SGA foul merchant nonsense, get Herb, they’ll shoot 10% from 3, score only 80 a game and still win 65 games.
Still not sure why teams don’t just pack the lane on OKC. Every time they launch a 3 I’m sure the other team cheers.