OKC rookie Topic ‘ready’ to recover from ACL injury
Nikola Topic didn’t show any signs of discomfort as he navigated the Oklahoma Contemporary Arts Center for his introductory press conference on Saturday.
The No. 12 overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft sat at a table with his fellow draftees and Thunder general manager Sam Presti. He then walked around the room, fielding questions from the media and briefly chatting with head coach Mark Daigneault.
It was an encouraging sight for Topic, who suffered a partially torn ACL earlier this month while playing with the Basketball League of Serbia’s Crvena Zvezda. Still, it’ll be quite some time before the 18-year-old guard suits up for OKC.
Topic confirmed Saturday that he’ll undergo ACL surgery this summer. The expectation is that he’ll miss all next season.
“It’s bad, but there a lot of good things in that,” Topic said of missing time due to injury. “I’ll be able to see one year of what the NBA is about and how it is living here. ... For sure, I’ll be more prepared to play a year from now.”
This isn’t the first time Topic has been sidelined due to injury.
Topic suffered a left knee injury in January and missed four months of Adriatic League action as a result. He then returned in late April and in played three games, but he suffered a partially torn ACL in the same knee during the Adriatic League playoff finals.
The second injury affected the draft stock of Topic, who fell to OKC at No. 12 despite being projected by many people to be a top-five talent in his class.
Fortunately, the 6-6 guard landed with a franchise that has experience in this type of situation. After OKC selected Chet Holmgren with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2022 NBA Draft, the 7-1 forward suffered a Lisfranc injury in the offseason that caused him to miss the entire 2022-23 campaign.
Holmgren observed from the sideline, and he bounced back this past season. He played all 92 games, including the playoffs, and finished second in Rookie of the Year voting with averages of 16.5 points and 7.9 rebounds.
Topic said he hasn’t gotten the chance to speak with Holmgren about that experience just yet, but he hopes to have a similar path.
“I’m really grateful that they have experience with Chet, who didn’t play his first year,” Topic said. I’m really, really grateful for the opportunity, and I’ll try my best to do my best and to be the best version of myself.”
OKC is also optimistic about Topic’s situation after doing extensive research prior to the draft.
The NBA and the players’ association agreed on a new set of rules regarding the NBA Draft in April 2023. One of those rules gives league-wide access to every prospect’s medical examinations, which includes medical history and biomechanical and functional movement testing.
This allowed OKC to examine the imaging of Topic’s knee. The Thunder also had Donnie Strack, its director of medical services, travel to visit Topic and examine him in person.
With that knowledge, and the experience gained from managing Holmgren’s injury last season, Presti and his staff felt confident enough to select Topic on draft night.
“Everything that we’ve seen is – I don’t want to say suitable, but we’re comfortable with it,” Presti said of Topic’s injury. “We’re going into that extremely optimistic . ... Our experience with Chet and the time that we used with him during his first year was certainly a factor into the way we thought about this opportunity, and I think we learned some things in that instance.”
Once Topic gets healthy, he figures to bring plenty to the table for OKC.
Topic is an oversized guard with great passing abilities, and he can also finish well around the rim. He’ll have to improve as a 3-point shooter and find ways to be impactful on defense, though.
But for now, Topic is focused on getting healthy and soaking up all he can from the sideline.
“I’m trying to look at positive things,” Topic said. “It will for sure be a lot of hard work and really tough mentally, but I think I’m ready.”