As one of the first two players off the bench, Nikol Topic's check-in had more meaning to it than usual. The 21-year-old has finally made his 2026-27 regular-season debut. He had missed the first dozen games recovering from offseason back surgery. To show how that hasn't anchored down his energy, he had an offensive rebound and a steal in his opening minute.
The Oklahoma City Thunder suffered a heartbreaker in a 113-112 loss to the LA Clippers. This was part of the 2026 NBA Cup West Group B play. This is also their first three-game losing streak in over three years.
Topic finished with 0 points on 0-of-4 shooting, four rebounds and three assists. He shot 0-of-2 from 3. He also had two steals.
Obviously — as you can guess — Topic showed some rust.
He had only played the first half of two G League games in his latest assignment. But that was enough to get him to LA to join the Thunder. They badly need NBA-capable bodies. As a recent lottery pick, he represents that. Playing out a contract year, I'm sure he's also felt a sense of urgency to return.
Cool to see Topic back. Just from a pure story perspective, too. He's a guy who's had all-time brutal health luck. He missed the 2024-25 season with a torn ACL. And was then limited to 10 appearances in the 2025-26 season as he was diagnosed — and eventually beat — testicular cancer. His latest setback was an offseason back surgery that took longer than anticipated to recover from.
"It's good to see. More than anything, I'm just happy to see him be able to play basketball — the game he loves," Shai Gilgeous-Alexander said about Topic. "It's tough to go from such a talented young player to not being able to play at all for a couple of years. Can't imagine and just happy to have him out there."
Now, hopefully, Topic can play his first real NBA minutes of his career. His time in OKC may be nearing its end, but that doesn't mean his ambitions will end, too. If he can put out solid tape and help the Thunder in his dire hour of need, both sides will benefit from it. His energetic play on both ends here was a good start.
"This guy hasn’t played a lot of basketball in a long time. Played some spot games last year. But for a guy that's been in the NBA as long as he has, he's not played a lot of basketball," Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault said about Topic. "He goes in there, he's aggressive. He's team-first, he's competitive. He's obviously got a great sense for the game. He's a guy you can play through a little bit. He got us good shots. Got us some good threes. He does some stuff around the basket. Just a really steady hand with the ball."
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder continue to root for Nikola Topic as he makes 2026-27 season debut
