What brutal injury means for Thunder guard Nikola Topic

Guard Nikola Topic of the Oklahoma City Thunder missed last season while recovering from a torn ACL. This week's injury won't keep him out as long, but it might be far more painful.

According to the Thunder public relations, Topic "had a testicular procedure" and will be "re-evaluated in approximately four to six weeks." The severity of the injury is unclear. 

Nikola Topic opened preseason strong before his injury

Topic, the No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, had a solid preseason debut for the Thunder on Sunday, putting up 10 points and seven assists in a 135-114 win over the Charlotte Hornets. OKC rested its top eight rotation players, letting the point guard get plenty of playing time that might be scarce in the regular season, but the game will be Topic's last for a while.

The defending champions are still loaded, returning nearly their entire team for last season aside from little-used Dillon Jones. But the area where the Thunder are light is at ball handler, where Shai Gilgeous-Alexander dominates and Jalen Williams is the secondary creator. Topic looked on track to be another option, but missing most of training camp and at least the first month of the season might make it tough for him to get up to speed.

The Thunder seem to be conservative with Topic's recovery, choosing not to re-evaluate for a month, suggesting his procedure was fairly serious. It's a rare but serious injury among NBA players.

Manu Ginobili returned strong from his own painful injury

In February 2016, San Antonio's Ginobili collided with Ryan Anderson and had to have emergency surgery on his right testicle. Because the injury happened just before the All-Star break, Ginobili only missed 12 games.

Utah Jazz guard John Starks had to have a twisted testicle removed during the 2001 NBA playoffs, but he only missed two games. It's a more common injury in baseball, with Hall of Famer Adrian Beltre one of many players who have taken a bad-hop ground ball to a sensitive region — though Beltre stayed in the game and scored the winning run in the 14th inning before going on the injured list for two weeks. Seattle Mariners teammate Ken Griffey, Jr. showed zero sympathy when Beltre returned.