LAS VEGAS — The Oklahoma City Thunder drafted Nikola Topic in the lottery last season despite his ACL tear. Now healthy, their rookie guard looks ready to make the defending champs even more dangerous. Even after missing the entire 2024-25 season, Topic is still only 19 years old. He certainly didn’t play like a teenager or someone just 13 months away from an ACL tear during the Thunder’s Las Vegas Summer League game against the Brooklyn Nets on Thursday. Topic had 18 points, six assists and four rebounds in OKC’s 90-81 win, one where he thoroughly outplayed the Nets’ Egor Demin, this year’s No. 8 pick. It wasn’t just that Topic filled up the stat sheet. He has good size for a point guard, standing 6-foot-6. Throughout Thursday’s game, Topic didn’t always make his shots or finish well at the rim, but he got past the Nets defenders at will. Topic showed off a variety of drives, going baseline for a reverse layup on one play and zipping into the lane and freezing the defense for an easy seven-footer on anothRead More
Thunder guard’s first Summer League game is bad news for Western Conference
