Games like the Oklahoma City Thunder’s matchup yesterday against the Phoenix Suns tend to hold very little intrigue. With all of their starters outside of Lu Dort resting, the expectations for their performance were never that high.<\/p>\n
But Nikola Topic, in just his tenth career NBA appearance, was highly impressive. Through 39 minutes on the court, he posted 18 points, four rebounds, and 14 assists while going 8-of-16 from the floor and 2-of-5 from 3-point range. <\/p>\n
Given the adversity he’s battled through to even get to this point, his outing was a major triumph. He’s regained much of the creativity and the ball-handling ability the Thunder saw when they drafted him 12th overall in 2024.<\/p>\n
Mark Daigneault has already stated that this season won’t be used to evaluate Topic’s performance. With the time he spent away from the game, that’s the right way to approach his return. But his performance on Sunday night begs a burning Thunder question.<\/p>\n
While the playoff rotation for this season is already set, how soon will Oklahoma City need to carve out space for him? Could he be a difference-making piece as soon as next season?<\/p>\n
Nikola Topic has exceeded all expectations for what his return to basketball might look like<\/p>\n
When it was announced that Topic would see his first NBA action <\/a>this season, the hope was that he would spend the remainder of this campaign finding his legs again, regaining his strength and stamina to prepare for a shot at the rotation in 2026-27.<\/p>\n He accomplished that goal. And then he far exceeded it. <\/p>\n