Nikola Topic to Debut for OKC Thunder at Summer League

The 2025 NBA Draft came and went, leaving plenty of NBA franchises with shiny new rookies.

Teams league wide left with top overall draftees, mid-first round picks hoping to overachieve and second rounders looking to make a name for themselves.

While the recently crowned champs in the Oklahoma City Thunder left with Thomas Sorber and Brooks Barnhizer, their potentially most exciting rookie might’ve been drafted a year ago.

Nikola Topic, selected at No. 12 in the 2024 NBA Draft, will play the upcoming season as a rookie after sitting out last year due to injury. He now joins a 2025 draft class that has much more buzz than his own did, owning a variety of potentially franchise-altering talents up top.

Topic earned draft acclaim with white-hot play in the ABA two seasons ago. A true point guard, Topic portrayed a downhill scoring attack that — when mixed with his elite passing ability — had teams considering him within the top-five. A knee injury suffered after he bumped up to the EuroLeague left his stock in jeopardy, and it took the ever-patient Thunder chancing him at No. 12 for him to find his NBA home.

For the last season — one in which OKC came away with the Larry O’Brien — Topic has waited patiently while rehabbing. But Oklahoma City’s top decision-maker in Sam Presti confirmed at his end-of-season presser that Topic will indeed play at Summer League in the coming weeks.

Topic was one of the younger players in his own class, still being just 19. And despite gaudy stat lines with Mega, he’ll still need time to iron things out at the NBA level. Though Summer League will provide a great framework for that.

Despite having relatively few holes roster-wide, the Thunder could certainly use a ball-handling, pass-first point guard in reserve.