The Oklahoma City Thunder need healthy bodies. After Jalen Williams suffered a gruesome-looking leg injury in the final minute of their 108-101 win over the LA Clippers, a couple of players are set to make their 2026-27 regular-season debut.
Nikola Topic and Thomas Sorber are no longer listed on the Thunder injury report. Both will be available for OKC's game against the Phoenix Suns on Monday in this second night of a home back-to-back. With Chet Holmgren and Cason Wallace also out, the Thunder badly needed some NBA bodies.
Obviously, Williams' injury is the biggest storyline heading into the game. Thunder GM Sam Presti will talk to the media beforehand at 5 p.m. CT — presumably, over the severity of his long-term status after his ankle snapped
in the wrong direction. But Topic and Sorber serve as a little bit of a calvary — in apocalyptic circumstances.
Both recent first-round picks have dealt with awful injury luck. Topic was sidelined for the entire 2024-25 season with a torn ACL. He was then limited to just 10 games in the 2025-26 season after being diagnosed with testicular cancer in Oct. 2025. He eventually cleared that and returned right before the 2026 NBA All-Star break. His bad luck rolled over to this past season — when he had back surgery that sidelined him for the first three games of this regular season.
Meanwhile, Sorber returns after being out for nearly 18 months. He had foot surgery in Feb. 2025 at Georgetown. The Thunder then selected him with the No. 15 pick of the 2026 NBA draft. But a Sept. 2025 torn ACL ended his 2025-26 season before it even started. He then had a second knee procedure this past summer and has been sidelined since.
Let's see if either Topic and Sorber shows something. The Thunder are in an all-hands-on-deck situation following Williams' catastrophic leg injury. They go from a popular title favorite to a team left scrambling, figuring out how they're going to overcome his absence. If they can even.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Nikola Topic, Thomas Sorber set to make 2026-27 NBA regular season debuts
