{"id":529590,"date":"2026-01-11T14:18:48","date_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:18:48","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/529590\/"},"modified":"2026-01-11T14:18:48","modified_gmt":"2026-01-11T14:18:48","slug":"nba-player-eyes-comeback-this-season-after-finishing-chemotherapy-after-cancer-diagnosis","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/529590\/","title":{"rendered":"NBA player eyes comeback THIS SEASON after finishing chemotherapy after cancer diagnosis"},"content":{"rendered":"

By JAMES COHEN, SPORTS REPORTER<\/a> <\/p>\n

Published: 18:41 EST, 9 January 2026 | Updated: 19:52 EST, 9 January 2026 <\/p>\n

NBA<\/a> star Nikola Topic has returned to training with the Oklahoma<\/a> City Thunder after completing chemotherapy following a testicular cancer<\/a> diagnosis last year.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Back in October, it was revealed that the former first-round pick had been diagnosed with the disease, just months after the Thunder won the NBA championship.<\/p>\n

Since then, Topic has reportedly been working hard to get back on the court and, in December, was seen taking part in a pre-game warm-up with the Thunder team.<\/p>\n

Earlier this week, he was reportedly spotted again, this time involved in a defensive workout alongside Thunder rookies Brooks Barnhizer and Chris Youngblood.<\/p>\n

Now, it’s been confirmed that his chemotherapy has been completed and there are hopes that he could return to NBA action before the end of the season.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Topic’s agent, Misko Raznatovic, recently said: ‘The chemotherapy has been successfully completed, and he is now returning to the training process, although he remained active even during the therapy.<\/p>\n

\"Nikola <\/p>\n

Nikola Topic has returned to training with the Thunder after completing chemotherapy<\/p>\n

\"Topic <\/p>\n

Topic was diagnosed with testicular cancer back in October<\/p>\n

‘It’s difficult to specify a timeframe, but I sincerely hope that this year he will get minutes not only in the G League but also on NBA courts, if everything goes as it currently appears.’\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘If he stays healthy, and I believe he will, everything that has happened in the past two years will only strengthen his character.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘If he has managed to overcome these two obstacles, nothing will be difficult or unattainable for him in the future,’ Raznatovic added.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Topic is yet to have his first taste of NBA basketball having missed the entirety of the 2024-25 season with an ACL injury.\u00a0<\/p>\n

Despite not playing a game, he won the NBA Championship with the Thunder that year, becoming the third-youngest NBA player ever to win a title.\u00a0<\/p>\n

News of Topic’s cancer diagnosis was broken by\u00a0Thunder General Manager Sam Presti back in October.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘He had a testicular procedure at the very beginning of training camp. That procedure was necessary… to determine if Nikola was dealing with a case of testicular cancer,’ the GM said.<\/p>\n

‘The results of the biopsy have been returned and he is dealing with a case of testicular cancer. He has a tremendous group of oncologists… and they are extremely positive about his outlook in dealing with the situation.’<\/p>\n

Presti added: ‘Tope didn’t want to make this information public until he had begun the actual treatments, which he has recently. He’s been in here, he’s training, he’s working out – through this entire process he’s been able to do that.\u00a0<\/p>\n

\"Despite <\/p>\n

Despite not playing a game, he won the NBA Championship with the Thunder last year<\/p>\n

\"Topic <\/p>\n

Topic is yet to have his first taste of NBA basketball having missed the entirety of the 2024-25<\/p>\n

‘But as we all know, this will be a challenging treatment process to go through but the team of physicians he has around him are extremely positive about his long-term outlook.’<\/p>\n

The GM said that the Thunder’s ‘only expectation’ of Topic – a first-round draft pick in 2024 – is to focus on his cancer battle.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘This is his most important priority – he’ll be back playing basketball when he’s able to but we’re not putting any type of expectations on that, obviously,’ Presti explained.<\/p>\n

‘He has our total support, encouragement and love. Guys on the team have been amazing. Tope is a really remarkable guy… extraordinarily mature and composed.\u00a0<\/p>\n

‘He has all the tools that you could ask for, for somebody to take on and conquer this situation.’<\/p>\n

Share or comment on this article:
\n NBA player eyes comeback THIS SEASON after finishing chemotherapy after cancer diagnosis<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"By JAMES COHEN, SPORTS REPORTER Published: 18:41 EST, 9 January 2026 | Updated: 19:52 EST, 9 January 2026…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":529591,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3783],"tags":[7,1132,6,310,475,179,3966,3965,275,312],"class_list":{"0":"post-529590","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-oklahoma-city-thunder","8":"tag-basketball","9":"tag-dailymail","10":"tag-nba","11":"tag-oklahoma","12":"tag-oklahoma-city","13":"tag-oklahoma-city-thunder","14":"tag-oklahomacity","15":"tag-oklahomacitythunder","16":"tag-sport","17":"tag-thunder"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/channels.im\/@nba\/115876906296335390","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529590","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=529590"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/529590\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/529591"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=529590"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=529590"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.rawchili.com\/nba\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=529590"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}