The reaction that Nikola Topić received — a standing ovation from Thunder fans inside Paycom Center on Thursday, when he checked in for the first time late in the first quarter — captured the magnitude of the moment.
Topić, Oklahoma City’s first-round pick at No. 12 overall in the 2024 NBA Draft, was about to make a debut more than a year in the making.
First, there was the torn ACL that sidelined him for all of last season, forcing him to miss the entirety of the Thunder’s championship run.
And then there was the testicular procedure in October, the testicular cancer diagnosis and the chemotherapy that upended the point guard’s career and kept him out of the lineup for the first 55 games of the season, too.
But during the Thunder’s 110-93 loss to the Bucks, Topić stepped onto the court for the first time as an NBA player in a heartwarming scene and contributed two points, one assist and one rebound across 12 minutes.
“He could’ve made 100 shots, missed 100 shots,” Thunder teammate Chet Holmgren said postgame. “Tonight’s an amazing game for him.”
After checking into the game, as Thunder fans cheered around him, Topić patted his chest while standing under the basket before collecting the ball, inbounding it and receiving a return pass to bring it up the court.
It served as a small step for Topić in his return, as head coach Mark Daigneault described the 20-year-old as still being in the “infant stages” of returning to full game shape in terms of his conditioning, athleticism and strength.
He appeared in one preseason game for the Thunder in October before his absence, and then played in two games for their G League team this week before returning.
“Anybody who’s battling cancer is fighting for their life,” Holmgren said. “I could never begin to understand what that’s like, and it just speaks to the strength of [Topić] and who he is as a person. It would’ve been very justified for him to weigh everybody around him down and sulk and be mad at the world because the kid he is, he doesn’t deserve that. We’re all just so happy that he was able to battle through that and get back to hooping.”
The Thunder, despite the loss, entered the All-Star break as the top seed in the Western Conference with a 42-14 record.
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
