The Oklahoma City Thunder are taking another step toward getting Nikola Topic back on the floor.
On Saturday, the team announced that Topic has been assigned to the G League, a move that points him toward a return after missing the entire 2026-27 regular season because of back surgery in June 2026. He is expected to play for the OKC Blue in their next game against the Osceola Magic on Sunday, Nov. 8.
Topic’s path to this point has been anything but smooth. The 21-year-old was the No. 12 pick in the 2024 NBA draft, but injuries and illness have kept interrupting his start.
He sat out the entire 2024-25 season after tearing his ACL, then appeared in only 10 games in the 2025-26 season while working his way back from a testicular cancer diagnosis in Oct. 2025.
He returned before the 2026 NBA All-Star break after beating that diagnosis.
This latest setback came after the back surgery he had this past offseason. He had originally been expected to be ready for training camp, but that timeline never materialized, and he has now missed OKC’s first 10-plus games.
There’s also a contract wrinkle in the background. After the Thunder declined his 2027-28 team option, Topic is now in a contract year and could be in line for his first real stretch of serious NBA minutes.
He already has some familiarity with the Blue, having spent time there last season as part of his recovery while going through several rounds of chemotherapy in a three-month span. That should make this assignment a little less foreign, with the hope that he can shake off the rust and start putting up big numbers.
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