Thunder rookie Nikola Topic undergoes ACL surgery, will miss 2024-25 season

Thunder rookie Nikola Topic undergoes ACL surgery, will miss 2024-25 season

Oklahoma City Thunder rookie guard Nikola Topic officially underwent surgery to repair his torn ACL, the team announced Wednesday. As expected, he plans to miss the entirety of the 2024-25 NBA season.

Oklahoma City Thunder rookie Nikola Topić underwent a successful procedure to address a left ACL tear, team says. Topić is expected to miss the 2024-25 season as part of his rehabilitation process. pic.twitter.com/cJoqJipdZd

— Michael Scotto (@MikeAScotto) July 24, 2024

“We’re going into that extremely optimistic with what it is that we’ve seen and where I think we’ll be able to get to, but our expectation is that he probably won’t be playing for us next season,” Thunder general manager Sam Presti said after the draft. “It was a unique situation to be able to get a player of that caliber where we did and we’re really excited about bringing him into the organization.”

Topic, the Thunder’s No. 12 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, suffered the injury in the Adriatic League playoffs earlier this year. He told reporters in early June–weeks before the draft–that he wasn’t 100 percent healed nor was he running or practicing with a basketball.

Topic, a 6-foot-5 guard, was a consensus top-5 pick for the majority of the pre-draft process up until his diagnosis of having a partially torn ACL. The injury ultimately slightly dinged his stock, but not enough to fall out of the lottery.

Thankfully for him, the 18-year-old landed in a situation where he won’t have to produce right away; though he’ll be surrounded by a loaded guard room in Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams, Alex Caruso and Cason Wallace, among others.

Nuggets rookie DaRon Holmes II tears Achilles, likely out for season

Topic averaged 18.4 points, 3.6 rebounds and 7.1 assists in 12 games with KK Mega Basket last season, shooting 52.3 percent from the floor, 25.9 percent from 3-point range and 85.5 percent from the free-throw line. He was one of the most gifted passers of this 2024 draft class, and one of the craftier slashers. His shooting needed work; his form was inconsistent and he didn’t have much lift. Though I expected that to come around–in the long-term–with his free-throw percentage consistently being above average.

Unfortunately, we’ll have to wait another season to see it in fruition with this group. Topic has very enticing tools, though the biggest question will be how he fits. He’s talented and he’s young, so I think he’ll eventually figure it out–but who knows how many reps he’s granted behind Gilgeous-Alexander when he is healthy.

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