Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nikola Topic made his NBA debut on Thursday after he was diagnosed with cancer ahead of the 2025-26 season.
Topic played 12 minutes off the bench for the Thunder in a loss to the Bucks, recording 2 points, 1 rebound and 1 assist.
His NBA debut came four months after he was diagnosed with testicular cancer at age 20.
Nikola Topic is in his second season with Oklahoma City after being drafted No. 12 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft. He missed all of the 2024-25 season with a torn ACL.
A native of Serbia, Topic entered the game to a standing ovation. You can check out video of the special moment here.
After the game, Thunder head coach Mark Daigneault spoke about what it was like seeing Topic finally out on the court after a long and difficult journey.
“Just thrilled for him,” he said, according to ESPN. “He’s obviously been through a ton of adversity in his life in the last couple years. He’s a young guy that all he wants to do is play basketball and that’s been taken from him a couple of different times, and so for him to work himself to this point, get himself on the floor is a great accomplishment.
“Certainly a really good feel-good night for his family, for him and for our team despite the fact that we didn’t play our best game.”