Thunder’s Nikola Topic undergoing treatment for testicular cancer

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, then was ruled out for at least four-to-six weeks after undergoing a testicular procedure. Presti said Thursday that the 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.

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 $5.43M salary for next season.