Nikola Topic Rumors | Hoops Rumors

Nikola Jokic Headlines Serbia’s Roster For EuroBasket

August 23rd, 2025 at 12:03pm CST by Rory Maher

The Serbian national team has officially announced its roster for the upcoming EuroBasket tournament, according to FIBA. The 12-man group is headlined by Nuggets superstar Nikola Jokic, the three-time NBA MVP who won Finals MVP en route to Denver’s first title in 2023.

While Jokic is the most noteworthy name on Serbia’s roster, the team has three other active NBA players in captain Bogdan Bogdanovic (Clippers), Nikola Jovic (Heat) and Tristan Vukcevic (Wizards). The roster also features a handful of European stars, some of whom have NBA experience.

Here’s the full 12-man roster:

Aleksa Avramovic
Bogdan Bogdanovic
Ognjen Dobric
Marko Guduric
Nikola Jokic
Nikola Jovic
Stefan Jovic
Vanja Marinkovic
Vasilije Micic
Nikola Milutinov
Filip Petrusev
Tristan Vukcevic

Thunder guard Nikola Topic and former Warriors big man Alen Smailagic were on Serbia’s preliminary roster but did not make the final cut.

Serbia is considered the favorite for the tournament, which begins on August 27 and ends on September 14. The team went 7-0 in exhibition games leading up to EuroBasket, per FIBA, defeating Bosnia and Herzegovina, Poland, Greece, Cyprus, Czechia, Germany and Slovenia.

The Serbian national team won a bronze medal at the 2024 Olympics in Paris and a silver at the 2023 World Cup (Jokic didn’t play after the Nuggets’ playoff run), but was surprisingly eliminated by Italy in the round of 16 during the last European championships in 2022. Spain won that edition of the tournament.

Western Notes: Topic, Beal, Abdelfattah, Holsopple

August 12th, 2025 at 6:05pm CST by Dana Gauruder

Nikola Topic, a 2024 lottery pick, spent his entire first season in the NBA rehabbing a partially torn ACL in his left knee that required surgery. The Thunder guard took some positives from his long road to recovery, he told Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.

“I didn’t play a basketball game for a very long time, and that was really hard,” Topic said. “But as you go through that process, you learn something about yourself that you didn’t know you had. … I took positives from it and learned from it.”

Topic returned to action during the Summer League. He averaged 10.8 points, 5.8 assists and 1.8 steals in 27.3 minutes per game in five appearances.

“I feel more confident,” Topic said. “Going into a game, sleeping before a game and just everything about it, I feel way more confident.”

Here’s more from the Western Conference:

Bradley Beal‘s primary motivation to sign with the Clippers was the opportunity to join another contender. “I need a ring. I want one bad. I feel like I’ve got a new life of rejuvenation, for sure, a new hunger. I’m excited about the opportunity, new city, a new environment but a hungry environment, too,” he told KMOV’s Tamar Sher (video link). After getting bought out by the Suns, Beal signed a two-year, $11MM contract with a player option.
The Timberwolves are hiring Mahmoud Abdelfattah as head coach of their NBA G League affiliate, the Iowa Wolves, Michael Scotto of HoopsHype tweets. Abdelfattah will also be an assistant coach for USA Basketball’s AmeriCup Qualifying Team. He was previously the head coach of Australia’s Sydney Kings.
The Lakers are hiring Jeremy Holsopple as their new head strength and conditioning coach, Marc Stein of The Stein Line tweets. As the Mavericks’ athletic performance director, Holsopple was named as the NBA’s top strength and conditioning coach in March 2021.

And-Ones: Hollis-Jefferson, LeBron, Sophomores, G. Arenas

July 31st, 2025 at 8:59am CST by Luke Adams

After recently going viral on NBA Twitter for a tweet in which he made his case for an NBA roster spot, veteran forward Rondae Hollis-Jefferson spoke to Cyro Asseo of HoopsHype about his quest to get back into the league.

“I feel like, given the time I was in the NBA, I think it was very important for me to self-reflect and think about all the things that I could have done differently that kind of shaped me into the person I am today,” Hollis-Jefferson said. “I was just sitting there the other day thinking about it. I was thinking about it all, man. Just where I’m at, how far I’ve come, the growth, the experiences, everything that I’ve been through.

“… It was one of those days where your wheels are turning. And I said, man, I should be in the NBA, dude. I know everyone knows how hard I work, how much I care about basketball, but that’s really where it stemmed from.”

A first-round pick in 2015, Hollis-Jefferson appeared in 305 regular season games for three teams from 2015-21. While he has been out of the NBA for four years, he has continued to compete in professional leagues around the world, spending time in Turkey, Puerto Rico, South Korea, the Philippines, and Lebanon.

Still just 30 years old, Hollis-Jefferson says a desire to be closer to home is a big part of the reason why he’d love to make it back to the NBA.

“Just wanting to be on that big stage and really, really wanting to be closer to home, to be closest to my kids,” he said. “It’s one thing for them to take a max five-hour flight to, say, California, versus a 20-hour travel day to Asia or somewhere else.”

Here are more odds and ends from around the basketball world:

Despite some speculation that a recent meeting between LeBron James, his business partner Maverick Carter, and Nikola Jokic‘s agent Misko Raznatovic was a recruiting trip, they were actually discussing plans for an international basketball league that is being spearheaded by Carter, multiple sources tell Ben Horney, Daniel Roberts, and Alex Schiffer of Front Office Sports.
Jeremy Woo of ESPN.com identifies the 10 most interesting second-year NBA players he’ll be watching in 2025/26. Woo’s list includes first-year standouts, like reigning Rookie of the Year Stephon Castle, players recovering from major injuries, such as Thunder guard Nikola Topic and Sixers guard Jared McCain, and youngsters who will be in line for major role increases as sophomores, including Rockets guard Reed Sheppard.
Former NBA All-Star Gilbert Arenas was among six people arrested on Wednesday on suspicion of hosting illegal high-stakes poker games at a mansion in Los Angeles owned by Arenas, according to a report from The Associated Press. The press release from the U.S. Attorney’s Office detailing the specifics of the case can be found right here.
A man has been found guilty for second-degree murder in the killing of former NBA forward Adreian Payne, per Silas Morgan and Cristobal Reyes of The Orlando Sentinel (susbcription required). Lawrence Alexander Dority, who shot and killed Payne in May 2022, claimed that he thought the 31-year-old was reaching for a gun and cited self-defense, but Orange County Sheriff’s Office investigators concluded Payne didn’t have a weapon on him and that he didn’t pose a threat to Dority, who is scheduled to be sentenced on August 29.

Nikola Jokic Headlines Serbia’s Preliminary EuroBasket Roster

July 28th, 2025 at 8:32am CST by Luke Adams

As expected, Nuggets center Nikola Jokic is among the 17 players listed on Serbia’s preliminary roster for this year’s EuroBasket tournament, the Basketball Federation of Serbia announced in a press release (hat tip to BasketNews.com).

Jokic is one of a handful of NBA players on the Serbian roster, along with Clippers guard Bogdan Bogdanovic, Thunder guard Nikola Topic, Heat forward Nikola Jovic, and Wizards center Tristan Vukcevic.

There are also several other players in the group who have previous NBA experience, such as Vasilije Micic, Marko Guduric, Filip Petrusev, and Alen Smailagic.

The Serbian national team is convening on Monday to begin training for EuroBasket and will play a series of exhibition games in August leading up to the event, which tips off on August 27.

The Serbians will face Estonia, Portugal, Latvia, the Czech Republic, and Turkey in the EuroBasket’s group phase. The field is made up of four groups of six teams apiece, with 16 of the 24 total clubs advancing to the knockout round of the tournament.

It will be the second straight summer in which Jokic has represented Serbia in an international competition — he led the team to a bronze medal finish at the Olympics in Paris in 2024. However, the Serbians were eliminated in the round of 16 by Italy in the most recent EuroBasket tournament in 2022, despite 32 point and 13 rebounds from Jokic in that game.

Thunder’s Nikola Topic Could Return To Action This Summer

June 17th, 2025 at 9:38pm CST by Dana Gauruder

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.

NBA GMs High On Thunder’s Offseason Moves, Celtics’ Title Chances

October 8th, 2024 at 9:40am CST by Luke Adams

The Thunder made the best roster moves during the 2024 offseason, according to the NBA’s general managers. Within his annual survey of the league’s top basketball decision-makers, John Schuhmann of NBA.com writes that 37% of his respondents picked Oklahoma City as having the best summer, with the Sixers coming in second place at 33%. The Knicks got 20% of the vote share, while no other club received more than a single vote.

It was one of many favorable outcomes in the survey for the Thunder, who were overwhelmingly selected as the team with the best young core — 60% of GMs selected OKC, compared to 20% for the second-place Magic.

New Thunder guard Alex Caruso was chosen by general managers as the most underrated offseason acquisition, receiving 23% of that vote share, while last year’s Most Valuable Player runner-up Shai Gilgeous-Alexander was picked as this year’s MVP favorite (40%), narrowly edging Mavericks star Luka Doncic (30%).

The Thunder also received a handful of votes from the league’s GMs as the team that will win the 2025 NBA Finals, but at 13%, they finished a distant second to the Celtics, who earned a whopping 83% of the vote. Besides those two clubs, only the Mavericks (3%) received a vote to become this season’s champions.

Here are a few more interesting results from Schuhmann’s GM survey, which is worth checking out in full:

New Sixers forward Paul George got 60% of the vote as the offseason acquisition who will have the biggest impact in 2024/25, followed by new Knicks Mikal Bridges and Karl-Anthony Towns at 13% apiece. The Towns trade, meanwhile, was named the most surprising offseason move, eking out George leaving Los Angeles for Philadelphia (27% to 23%).
Unsurprisingly, Spurs big man Victor Wembanyama was the overwhelming choice (77%) for which player the GMs would most want to start a franchise with. Gilgeous-Alexander and Nuggets center Nikola Jokic each earned three votes in that category, while Doncic got one.
The league’s general managers are high on No. 3 overall pick Reed Sheppard — the Rockets‘ guard is their pick to win the Rookie of the Year award (50%) ahead of betting favorite Zach Edey of the Grizzlies (30%). Sheppard also comfortably received the largest vote share (43%) when the GMs were asked which rookie will be the best player in five years. Spurs guard Stephon Castle (17%) and Hawks forward Zaccharie Risacher (13%) were the runners-up in that category.
There was no consensus among the GMs on which 2024 draftee was the biggest steal. Wizards guard Carlton Carrington, Kings guard Devin Carter, Pacers wing Johnny Furphy, Lakers forward Dalton Knecht, Timberwolves guard Terrence Shannon, and Thunder guard Nikola Topic each received three votes to lead the way.
Among newly hired head coaches, Mike Budenholzer of the Suns is the one GMs feel will have the biggest impact on his new club. Budenholzer received 40% of the vote, beating out Kenny Atkinson of the Cavaliers and J.B. Bickerstaff of the Pistons (20% apiece). Meanwhile, Spurs guard Chris Paul (30%) and Raptors guard Garrett Temple (20%) are the active players that GMs feel would make the best head coaches down the road.
Asked what they’d change about the NBA, 20% of GMs said the rules related to the tax aprons, trades, and roster construction are too restrictive and/or should be “indexed to (a) team’s market,” per Schuhmann, making it the top response.

Northwest Notes: Trail Blazers, Mitchell, Topic, Nuggets

July 24th, 2024 at 9:55pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Trail Blazers’ rebuilding process is happening at a fortunate time in light of the NBA’s new restrictive apron provisions, writes Sean Highkin of The Rose Garden Report. With so many young players on the roster, Portland doesn’t face the immediate decisions that other teams have to deal with, but it’s only a matter of time until its recent draft picks become eligible for extensions.

Highkin doesn’t believe the Blazers would have gotten nearly the same return for Damian Lillard if they had waited another year to trade him. Teams are placing a greater value on draft picks and are becoming less willing to gamble on older players with multiple years remaining on expensive contracts. Highkin points to Dejounte Murray, whom Atlanta traded for far less than it gave up to acquire him two years ago, along with Trae Young, Brandon Ingram and Zach LaVine, who may all have been dealt by now if the old rules were still in effect.

Highkin also notes that max extensions for rookie scale contracts don’t seem as automatic as they used to be. He states that Orlando’s Paolo Banchero and Oklahoma City’s Chet Holmgren and Jalen Williams appear to be the only “locks” to get those extensions next summer, when Portland will have to decide whether Shaedon Sharpe is worthy of a long-term commitment in excess of $200MM.

There’s more from the Northwest Division:

Ajay Mitchell‘s Summer League performance showed why the Thunder were willing to trade up to the 38th pick to acquire him, observes Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. The Santa Barbara guard, who recently signed a two-way contract, showed an ability to change speeds and finish around the basket, posting an 11-point, 10-assist double-double early in Las Vegas. First-round pick Dillon Jones displayed “flashes and flaws” in his first Summer League experience, while 2022 lottery pick Ousmane Dieng was held out of the games in Vegas after playing in Salt Lake City.
Nikola Topic could turn out to be a steal for the Thunder at No. 12 when he returns next season from his partially torn ACL, Rylan Stiles states in a Sports Illustrated piece. Oklahoma City was willing to wait a year for Topic to get healthy, and he could develop into a lead guard for the second unit.
The Nuggets will open their preseason schedule with a pair of games against the Celtics Oct. 4 and 6 in Abu Dhabi, tweets Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports. Denver will host the Suns Oct. 13 and the Thunder Oct. 15 before traveling to face the Timberwolves Oct 18.

Thunder’s Nikola Topic Undergoes ACL Surgery

July 24th, 2024 at 3:11pm CST by Luke Adams

Thunder rookie Nikola Topic has undergone successful surgery to address his torn left ACL, the team announced today.

According to Thunder, the procedure was performed in Los Angeles by Dr. Neal ElAttrache, with team medical personnel in attendance. As expected, Topic is projected to miss the entire 2024/25 season, postponing his NBA debut until the fall of 2025.

Word initially broke in early June 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 a few weeks later. Head of basketball operations Sam Presti confirmed when speaking to reporters following the first round of the draft that Oklahoma City expected the lottery pick to be unavailable for all of ’24/25.

Topic will be the second Thunder lottery pick in the past three years to essentially get a redshirt season. Chet Holmgren, the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 draft, suffered a foot injury later that summer that cost him all of ’22/23.

Topic is still expected to join the Thunder shortly and spend his rookie season around the team like Holmgren did two years ago. That experience benefited Holmgren, who finished second in Rookie of the Year voting this spring after averaging 16.5 points, 7.9 rebounds, and 2.3 blocks per contest while starting all 82 games for the Thunder.

Topic will earn a $4.9MM salary in 2024/25 while he recovers from ACL surgery. 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.

Thunder Sign Draft Picks Nikola Topic, Dillon Jones, Ajay Mitchell

July 6th, 2024 at 4:29pm CST by Arthur Hill

The Thunder have signed first-round picks Nikola Topic and Dillon Jones to rookie scale contracts, the team announced in a press release. Second-round selection Ajay Mitchell inked a two-way deal.

Chosen with the 12th pick, Topic was originally viewed as a potential top-five selection, but a partially torn ACL caused his draft stock to tumble. The 6’6″ point guard averaged 15.1 points, 5.9 assists and 3.2 rebounds for Crvena Zvezda this year in the Adriatic League. He’s not expected to play next season, giving the injury plenty of time to heal.

Jones, the 26th overall pick, was acquired from New York in a draft night trade. The 6’5″ small forward out of Weber State led the Big Sky Conference in scoring this season at 20.8 PPG, while adding 9.8 rebounds, 5.2 assists and 2.0 steals per night. He was a finalist for the Julius Erving Small Forward of the Year Award.

Mitchell, a 6’4″ shooting guard out of UC Santa Barbara, was the 38th pick in the draft. He averaged 20.0 points, 4.0 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.2 steals this season and was a First Team All-Big West selection the past two years.

Assuming they both got the maximum rookie contract they were eligible to receive, Topic will earn about $4.9MM in his first season and $23MM across four years, while Jones will be paid $2.6MM as a rookie and $13.5MM on his four-year deal. Oklahoma City will have third- and fourth-year team options on both players.

Northwest Notes: Topic, Jones, Mitchell, Nori, Nuggets

June 30th, 2024 at 2:52pm CST by Alex Kirschenbaum

Newly-drafted Thunder rookie Nikola Topic has confirmed that he will have surgery to repair a partially torn ACL, per Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (Twitter link). This approach had been expected prior to the draft, but that didn’t stop Oklahoma City from selecting the 6’6″ point guard with its No. 12 selection late in the lottery.

Last year with Mega MIS in ABA league play, Topic posted averages of 14.5 points on a .523/.259/.855 shooting line, along with 7.1 assists, 3.6 rebounds and 1.0 steals per game.

Whenever he does return – likely at the start of the 2024/25 season – he’ll join a loaded Thunder roster fresh off securing the Western Conference’s No. 1 seed and a 57-25 record in 2023/24. This year, Oklahoma City is no doubt hoping to build on that success. To wit, the team has already flipped underperforming young guard Josh Giddey for a two-time All-Defensive vet in his absolute prime, 30-year-old former Bulls guard Alex Caruso, as it looks to shore up its perimeter coverage.

There’s more out of the Northwest Division:

During their introductory presser, Thunder rookies Topic, Dillon Jones, and Ajay Mitchell seemed excited about joining such an impressive Oklahoma City squad, writes Joel Lorenzi of The Oklahoman. Jones, a Weber State alum, is going to be a versatile fit on an exciting young Thunder team, per Lorenzi. Topic was impressed with the team’s professionalism. “As I said before, I’m really grateful for the time here, and it’s really probably the best organization I’ve been to,” Topic said. Mitchell, drafted out of Santa Barbara, is open to whatever roster role the team decides is best.
The Pistons‘ decision to hire J.B. Bickerstaff as their next coach has guaranteed that top Timberwolves assistant Micah Nori will stay with Minnesota next season, reports The Athletic’s Jon Krawczynski (Twitter link). Nori has been with Minnesota under head coach Chris Finch since 2021. Nori stepped in to act as Finch’s legs after an injury forced Finch to stay static on the team’s bench during most of its run to the Western Conference Finals this spring. Not only will Nori stick around in Minnesota, he’ll likely earn a raise after going above and beyond the line of duty this postseason, reports Darren Wolfson of KSTP Sports (Twitter link).
As they approach the start of free agency this afternoon, a lot of the Nuggets‘ roster needs hinge on whether or not they’ll be able to re-sign unrestricted shooting guard Kentavious Caldwell-Pope, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. The team’s other free agent rotation wing, journeyman vet Justin Holiday, is not expected to return to Denver, reports Harrison Wind of DNVR Sports. Wind notes that, after trading Reggie Jackson, the Nuggets will be in the market for a backup point guard as well as a veteran reserve center. Although the team has just re-signed backup big man DeAndre Jordan, it doesn’t appear to view him as an actual rotation piece, but more as a locker room leader.