Nikola Topic, the Thunder‘s lottery pick in the 2024 draft, is being treated for testicular cancer, general manager Sam Presti announced on Thursday, per Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.
According to Presti, Topic has begun chemotherapy and there’s no timeline for his return to the court. However, Presti added that doctors are “extremely positive” about the 20-year-old’s prognosis, noting that testicular cancer is the “most cured” among males.
“Our only expectation of him is to focus on this,” Presti told reporters on Thursday (Twitter video link via Rylan Stiles of SI.com). “This is his most important priority. He’ll be back playing basketball when he’s able to, but we’re not putting any type of expectations on that, obviously. He has our total support, encouragement and love.”
The 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Topic missed the Thunder’s championship season due to a torn ACL. He played 31 minutes in Oklahoma City’s preseason opener earlier this month, then was ruled out for at least four-to-six weeks after undergoing a testicular procedure. Presti said today that procedure was necessary to determine whether or not Topic had cancer.
As Jeff Stotts of In Street Clothes points out (via Twitter), veteran NBA center Nene was diagnosed with testicular cancer and missed 76 days during the 2007/08 season after undergoing chemotherapy. Nene spent another decade in the league after that, so ideally Topic will follow a similar trajectory.
Despite Topic’s diagnosis and the fact that he has yet to play an NBA game, all indications are that the Thunder continue to view the young point guard as a part of their future — Oklahoma City exercised its 2026/27 option on Topic prior to the start of the season, locking in his $5.43MM salary for next season.
Horrible and devastating news. Basketball is just a game. Prayers and speedy recovery goes out to him.
F Cancer.
Wow this is serious stuff. Thought he just got kicked. Man it’s good that they got it. God speed Nikola. Get healthy is most important thing. 🙏
Dammmm! That’s horrible. Any any cancer is horrible. But any disease in the groin region makes it sound even worse.
Kid can’t catch a break. First the injuries, now this.
Assuming they caught it early, his prognosis is indeed excellent. But of course chemo is not going to be any fun. Best of luck to him. He’ll get through this.
20 yrs old
missed entire season with torn ACL
now cancer diagnosis
heal up
stay strong
Yes a tough situation for the young man. Praying for him and his family. If you haven’t seen the special ESPN did on Chris Lofton, it’s worth a look
Get well kid.