Thunder’s Nikola Topic Available To Make NBA Debut Thursday
Nikola Topic is not on the Thunder‘s injury report for Thursday’s game vs. Milwaukee, which means he’ll be active to potentially make his NBA regular season debut, notes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscriber link).
The 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Topic missed the entire 2024/25 season due to a torn anterior cruciate ligament (ACL) in his left knee. The Serbian point guard participated in 2025 Summer League, training camp, and part of the preseason prior to being diagnosed with testicular cancer.
Topic’s agent, Misko Raznatovic, announced at the beginning of January that his client had successfully completed chemotherapy to treat his cancer. Topic made his G League debut on Monday and played in the second of a back-to-back on Tuesday, averaging 14.5 points, 5.5 assists and 1.0 steal on .588/.556/.667 shooting in 17.9 minutes per game.
As Martinez writes, Topic will likely be on a minutes restriction on Thursday, but there’s a decent chance he could play with the Thunder shorthanded; Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (abdominal strain), Jalen Williams (hamstring strain) and Ajay Mitchell (abdominal strain, left ankle sprain) are all injured.
More importantly, Thursday represents a significant milestone in the 20-year-old’s recovery from a serious illness.
Thunder Notes: PPP, Topic, Williams, Boeheim
The NBA is looking at the Thunder for player absences in last Wednesday’s game against San Antonio, tweets Dan Woike of The Athletic.
Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Chet Holmgren, Isaiah Hartenstein, Luguentz Dort, and Alex Caruso all missed that nationally televised game after having played the previous night vs. Orlando. With the exception of Gilgeous-Alexander, who has remained sidelined due to an abdominal strain, the others were all back in action for the Thunder’s next game on Saturday.
If a team plans to sit a player for one game in a back-to-back set, the NBA typically wants it to happen during the game that isn’t nationally televised, so the league will consider whether Oklahoma City violated its player participation policy (PPP). However, besides SGA, none of those Thunder players meet the “star” criteria, and Rylan Stiles of SI.com suggests (via Twitter) that all their health issues were legitimate, so we’ll see if anything comes of the investigation.
Here’s more on the Thunder:
- After missing his entire rookie season in 2024/25 due to a torn ACL and then undergoing treatment for testicular cancer this past fall, Thunder guard Nikola Topic made his G League debut on Monday. In his first game for the Oklahoma City Blue, the 20-year-old Serbian had seven points and seven assists in 16 minutes off the bench. “Great accomplishment,” Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said, per The Associated Press. “Just can’t say enough about him as a guy, his mental toughness, maturity, resilience. … He hasn’t played a lot of basketball over the last two years, and he comes off a one-year rehab and immediately has a surprising diagnosis and goes through chemotherapy, three rounds of it. So for him to work himself back onto the court is just an unbelievable accomplishment, and we’re incredibly happy for him.”
- Jalen Williams‘ return following a 10-game absence due to a hamstring strain was a success, writes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman. Williams scored 10 of his 23 points in the fourth quarter to help Oklahoma City secure a 119-110 road win over the Lakers. “He slammed the door on that game,” Daigneault said. “It was impressive. He’s got such a body of work that we’re not overly concerned with how he plays coming back. We’re just happy he’s back. … Obviously, he was huge tonight. We know he’s a big-time player.”
- Buddy Boeheim‘s new two-way contract with the Thunder will cover two seasons, tweets Keith Smith of Spotrac. Boeheim joined the team last Friday, filling the roster opening created when the team waived Chris Youngblood, who had reached his 50-game limit.
Northwest Notes: Topic, Blazers, Nnaji, Wolves, Harkless
Misko Raznatovic, the agent for Thunder guard Nikola Topic, shared an update on his client, telling the Serbian-based outlet Arena Sport TV that Topic has successfully completed chemotherapy to treat his testicular cancer, per Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman.
“The chemotherapy was successfully completed, and he is now returning to the training process, although he was active during the therapy as well,” Raznatovic said. “It’s hard to pinpoint a timeline, but I sincerely hope he gets minutes this year, not only in the G League but on the NBA floor as well, if everything goes the way it is right now.”
Word broke in October that Topic, a 2024 lottery pick who missed his entire rookie season due to an ACL injury, had been diagnosed with testicular cancer and was undergoing treatment. As Raznatovic acknowledges, there’s still no timeline for the 20-year-old to make his NBA debut, but this is a major positive development.
We have more from around the Northwest:
- The Trail Blazers intend to present a proposal to the Oregon state legislature next month to have all state income taxes from players and team employees (for both the Blazers and visiting teams) redirected from Oregon’s general fund to a $600MM renovation project for the Moda Center, reports Bill Oram of The Oregonian (subscription required). One source who spoke to Oram about the proposal suggested it would help “guarantee the Blazers’ future” in Portland.
- Nuggets forward/center Zeke Nnaji hasn’t developed like the team hoped since signing a four-year, $32MM contract extension in October 2023, but with centers Nikola Jokic and Jonas Valanciunas sidelined, Nnaji has been giving the team solid minutes at the five, writes Bennett Durando of The Denver Post. Nnaji, who has five steals and six blocked shots in his past three games, is playing “amazing” defense, according to teammate Jamal Murray — head coach David Adelman didn’t disagree. “I don’t remember him moving this well,” Adelman said after Wednesday’s win over Boston. “…He guarded everybody in this game, because we were switching. Just cool to see him have some success. Obviously, he hasn’t been in the rotation.”
- The streaking Timberwolves have won four games in a row and now hold a top-four spot in the Western Conference. In a pair of stories for The Athletic, Jon Krawczynski examines the impact of center Rudy Gobert, writing that the big man is playing as well as he ever played in Minnesota, and notes that Anthony Edwards reached the 10,000-point mark on Thursday. Edwards was the third-youngest player in NBA history to reach that plateau, behind only LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
- Two-way player Elijah Harkless has appeared in just seven games for the Jazz so far this season and hasn’t seen any NBA action since November 18, but he has been thriving in the G League. Harkless was named the NBAGL’s Player of the Month for December after he averaged 28.3 points and 5.2 assists per game, per the league (Twitter link).
Thunder Notes: SGA, J-Dub, Win Mark, Caruso, Topic
While the Thunder were disappointed to drop Saturday’s game to San Antonio — Oklahoma City’s first loss in five-plus weeks — they were more focused on areas of improvement afterward rather than hanging their heads, writes Tim MacMahon of ESPN.
“Personally, I think it’s exciting,” superstar guard Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said. “It’s easier to learn when you don’t feel the way you want to feel. It stings a little bit more.
“We’ll also see these guys [twice in the next five] games. So, it will be a good challenge. Kind of like an automatic test, almost like in school. You fail the test, you get to retest a couple days later. That’s what it will probably feel like. Losing is where you find growth and where you really get better.”
Oklahoma City had its preferred starting lineup available on Saturday for the first time since the team won the championship in June, MacMahon notes. The Thunder were up 16 points late in the second quarter, but the Spurs rallied before halftime and wound up winning by two points.
Gilgeous-Alexander took responsibility for his part in the team’s “stagnant” offense — he finished with a game-high 29 points but also committed a season-high five turnovers.
“We can’t be spoiled,” Gilgeous-Alexander said, per MacMahon. “We can’t think we’re above anything. Us, along with every team in the league, if you show up on a night and don’t do the necessary thing to win, you probably won’t win, no matter how talented or no matter what your record looks like. That was the case for us tonight.”
Here’s more on the defending champions:
- The Thunder went 68-14 last season and won the NBA championship. However, they fell in the final of last year’s NBA Cup and were eliminated in the semifinals on Saturday. Star forward Jalen Williams, who finished with 17 points, seven rebounds, four assists and four steals but shot just 5-of-17 from the field, admitted the team was hoping to add to its trophy case, relays Joe Vardon of The Athletic. “Yeah, it’s frustrating,” said Williams. “There’s perspective on it, for sure. I think an average team would probably be like, ‘Oh, it’s the Cup, whatever, we lost one.’ What are we, 24-2? I mean, we can go home and just hang our hat on that, or we can look at it as a way to get better and understand that we played against a playoff team that beat us and gave us a two on our (loss record). So that’s how we’ll look at it from a competitive standpoint.”
- Entering Saturday’s game, the Thunder were tied with the 2015/16 Warriors for the best 25-game start in NBA history. Golden State went on to break Chicago’s regular season win mark by compiling a 73-9 record, but fell in the 2016 NBA Finals to Cleveland. As MacMahon writes for ESPN.com, Gilgeous-Alexander said on Friday that it would “absolutely” be meaningful if the Thunder were able to break the Warriors’ record, but he also cautioned that the team was more focused on repeating as champions and continuing to make day-to-day improvements.
- The reigning MVP was asked about the win record again after Saturday’s loss, according to Vardon. “Seventy-three and nine? I mean, the position we’re in right now, what are we, 24-2? My goal is to get better,” Gilgeous-Alexander said. “So if we get better than what we are now, that should take care of itself. That’s kind of how I see it. Goals to me are pointless trying to reach at when they are so far away. You have to take care of everything step-by-step, and tonight we didn’t. If we stack nights like we did tonight, we won’t even come close to it.”
- Veteran guard Alex Caruso was one of the standouts for the Thunder in Saturday’s loss, observes Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman (subscription required). On a night in which the offense wasn’t firing on all cylinders, Caruso did his best to will the team to victory in crunch time, Martinez writes, recording seven points, three rebounds and two steals in eight fourth-quarter minutes. The two-time champion finished with 11 points (on 5-of-9 shooting), eight rebounds, three assists and three steals, with the Thunder outscoring the Spurs by 22 points in his 24 minutes.
- Williams was recently asked about 2024 lottery pick Nikola Topic, who is undergoing treatment for testicular cancer. The Serbian guard missed his entire rookie season with a torn ACL prior to the cancer diagnosis this fall. “He doesn’t come in like, ‘It sucks.’ He’s going in, working out and shooting and trying to get better, which is insane to me. … He’s been really strong about the situation. He doesn’t feel sorry for himself,” Williams said of Topic (Twitter link via Martinez).
Thunder’s Nikola Topic Undergoing Treatment For Testicular Cancer
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.
Thunder Exercise 2026/27 Options On Topic, Wallace
The Thunder have exercised their 2026/27 team options on guards Nikola Topic and Cason Wallace, the team announced in a press release.
Wallace, the 10th overall pick of the 2023 draft, will now earn a guaranteed $7,420,806 in ’26/27, which will be his fourth season. He will be eligible for a rookie scale extension next summer.
Topic, the 12th pick of last year’s draft, will earn $5,429,760 in ’26/27 (his third season). Both players already had guaranteed contracts for ’25/26.
Wallace, who turns 22 next month, has been a rotation regular over the past two seasons for the defending champions. In 68 regular season games (27.6 minutes per contest) in ’24/25, the defensive stalwart averaged 8.4 points, 3.4 rebounds, 2.5 assists and 1.8 steals on .474/.356/.811 shooting.
Topic, 20, missed his entire rookie season due to an ACL tear. He won’t make his regular season debut until at least November after undergoing a testicular procedure earlier this month.
We’re tracking all the 2026/27 rookie scale option decisions here. They are due by October 31.
Thunder’s Nikola Topic To Miss At Least 4-6 Weeks
After missing his entire rookie season due to an ACL tear, Thunder guard Nikola Topic won’t be available when his second NBA season tips off either.
The team has announced that Topic underwent a testicular procedure on Monday and will be reevaluated in four-to-six weeks. That means his regular season NBA debut won’t happen until sometime in November, at the earliest.
The 12th overall pick in the 2024 draft, Topic essentially had a redshirt year during the Thunder’s championship season and had been gearing up to compete for rotation minutes this season. He played 31 minutes in Oklahoma City’s preseason opener on Sunday against Charlotte, registering 10 points, seven assists, and four rebounds while making 4-of-9 shots from the floor.
The Thunder have plenty of backcourt depth, with Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Alex Caruso, Cason Wallace, Isaiah Joe, Aaron Wiggins, and Ajay Mitchell among the guards available to head coach Mark Daigneault, so Topic’s injury shouldn’t have a major impact on the rotation to open the season.
Still, it’s an unfortunate setback for a player who has been on an NBA roster for the last 15 months and has yet to see any regular season game action.
The Thunder will also be without Thomas Sorber (ACL tear) and Kenrich Williams (knee surgery) when their season gets underway later this month.
Western Notes: Topic, Rockets, Podziemski, Suns
The rotation the Thunder use this fall will look awfully similar to the one that won a championship earlier in the year, but there could be one notable new addition. Nikola Topic, the 2024 lottery pick who missed his entire rookie season due to a torn ACL, has impressed his teammates in training camp as he makes a bid for regular playing time, writes Joe Mussatto of The Oklahoman (subscription required).
“It really stands out the way he sees the game,” Chet Holmgren said of the Serbian point guard. “Even without the ball in his hands, the way he cuts and finds open space. Sees plays up ahead of him and gets the ball out of his hands early. It’s impressive for a young guy, but that’s what got him noticed in the first place is his ability to see and read the game.”
Teammate Jaylin Williams also expressed admiration for Topic’s court vision and awareness: “You can see he really reads the game. Great passer, great facilitator out there.”
All 12 players who averaged at least 16 minutes per game for the Thunder last season are still on the roster, and all 12 except for Kenrich Williams (knee surgery) are healthy, so it remains to be seen whether Topic will be able to crack the regular season rotation.
However, he should get plenty of opportunities to show what he can do during Oklahoma City’s preseason schedule, which tips off on Sunday, Mussatto notes. According to head coach Mark Daigneault (Twitter video link via Rod Boone of The Charlotte Observer), several of the Thunder’s top players didn’t travel to South Carolina for Sunday’s preseason opener, the first game in a back-to-back set.
We have more from around the Western Conference:
- The Rockets will likely deploy different starting lineups during the preseason as head coach Ime Udoka gets a feel for how certain groups look in game settings, according to Danielle Lerner of The Houston Chronicle (subscription required). Udoka also said that forward Tari Eason and center Steven Adams will sit out Wednesday’s game vs. Utah after playing on Monday vs. Atlanta for precautionary reasons. Both players returned last season from major injuries.
- Warriors guard Brandin Podziemski spoke to Mark Medina of Sportskeeda about a variety of topics, including how he’d evaluate his 2024/25 season, what he focused on this offseason, and why he thinks incorporating newcomers like Al Horford will make for a “seamless transition.”
- Duane Rankin of The Arizona Republic shares his key takeaways from the Suns‘ victory over the Lakers in their preseason opener on Friday, including the fact that second-year wing Ryan Dunn started as the team’s de facto power forward.
Northwest Notes: Bailey, Blazers, Thunder, Nuggets
Jazz rookie Ace Bailey has decided to part ways with manager Omar Cooper and is seeking new representation, reports Tony Jones of The Athletic. League sources tell Jones that Bailey and his camp have interviewed potential reps but haven’t yet made a decision on who they’ll hire.
Cooper made waves during the pre-draft process by discouraging Bailey from visiting with or working out for any teams with picks in the top five. The widespread belief, as Jones writes, was that Cooper was trying to steer his client to the Wizards at No. 6, but Utah ultimately drafted him one spot before that.
Cooper is the father of guard Sharife Cooper, who signed a two-way contract with Washington last week.
Here are a few more items of interest form around the Northwest:
- RAJ Sports, a company run by the Bhatal family that reportedly made a bid to buy the Trail Blazers, has filed a lawsuit against the Cherng family, which joined Tom Dundon‘s prospective Blazers ownership group earlier this month. Jason Quick and Mike Vorkunov of The Athletic have the details on the suit, which was first reported by Law360.com. RAJ Sports is claiming that the Cherngs – who own Panda Express – breached an exclusivity agreement and has asked a judge to stop them from buying a stake in the Blazers.
- Justin Martinez of The Oklahoman passes along some highlights from Sam Presti‘s preseason press conference following a Thunder offseason highlighted by continuity. Presti preached patience when it comes to Nikola Topic‘s integration into the rotation, expressed confidence that Chet Holmgren will “only be better,” and said rookie big man Thomas Sorber was “playing great” before suffering a season-ending ACL tear. “It’s a really tough situation, but he’s got the right mindset. He’s got great natural energy,” Presti said of the 15th overall pick. “He’s going to get something out of this year, 100 percent, and I think it’ll position him well going into next season. But it’s certainly disappointing.”
- Bennett Durando of The Denver Post (subscription required) explores what the Nuggets‘ depth chart might look like in 2025/26. While the starters – Jamal Murray, Christian Braun, Cameron Johnson, Aaron Gordon, and Nikola Jokic – seem pretty clear, there could be some spots up for grabs on the second unit, including at point guard, where Bruce Brown projects to be Murray’s backup, and at the forward spots.
- The Oklahoma City Blue and Grand Rapids Gold – the Thunder‘s and Nuggets‘ G League affiliates, respectively – completed a trade sending the returning rights to Justyn Hamilton to the Gold in exchange for the returning rights to Andrew Funk and a 2026 second-round pick, tweets Rylan Stiles of SI.com. The deal could be a precursor to Hamilton signing an Exhibit 10 contract with Denver and/or Funk signing one with Oklahoma City.
Nikola Jokic Headlines Serbia’s Roster For EuroBasket
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.