The injury bug continues to bite the Oklahoma City Thunder. The NBA champion must feel like they’re going through a serious case of deja vu. Injuries have plagued another training camp and preseason. The latest example involved Nikola Topic.
After Topic made his preseason debut in a win over the Charlotte Hornets, he underwent testicular surgery on Monday. He will be re-evaluated in four to six weeks, which means he’ll be out for roughly the first 15 games of the 2025-26 regular season.
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Just another bummer for Topic. He missed all of last season with a torn ACL. Now, his regular-season debut is delayed even further. The Thunder were excited to see what the 20-year-old can do. The lottery prospect gives the best team another long-term project.
Despite the road bump, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault remains confident in Topic. He was one of the bigger storylines out of training camp. The novelty around him generated buzz. He could help fix their backup point guard woes.
“I have the utmost confidence,” Daigneault said. “If there’s anything we learned from last season, it’s the level of maturity that he takes to every situation. He’s definitely proven that.”
While they haven’t been hit with any serious injuries yet, the Thunder continue to receive several papercuts. Topic will join Kenrich Williams and Thomas Sorber as players who will miss the start of the 2025-26 regular season. The former underwent recent knee surgery while the latter was knocked out for the year with a torn ACL.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: Mark Daigneault confident Nikola Topic will rebound from latest injury