Oklahoma City Thunder guard Nikola Topić has been diagnosed with testicular cancer. Thunder general manager Sam Presti shared the news with reporters on Thursday, giving an update to what was first announced as a testicular procedure on Oct. 6, which was expected to keep him sidelined for at least 4-6 weeks.
“He had a testicular procedure at the very beginning of training camp, that procedure was necessary to determine if Nikola was dealing with a case of testicular cancer,” Presti said. “The procedure was necessary in order to biopsy. The results of the biopsy have been returned, and he is dealing with a case of testicular cancer. … They are extremely positive about his outlook in dealing with the situation … the treatment option for him right now being recommended by the oncologist is chemotherapy.”
Certainly this goes beyond basketball and the focus now becomes about Topić’s general health. Presti shared that Topić didn’t want to make this information public until he began treatment, which he now has. While undergoing chemotherapy, Presti said Topić has managed to continue training at the Thunder’s practice facility.
“He’s been in here, he’s training, he’s working out through this entire process,” Presti said. “He’s been able to do that, but as we all know, this will be a challenging treatment process to go through.”
Topić was selected with the 12th overall pick in the 2024 NBA Draft by the Thunder. Just months after being a lottery pick, he tore his ACL, forcing him to miss the entirety of the 2024-25 season. He showed great promise this past summer in Summer League, averaging 11 points and 7.3 assists and again showed flashes in his lone preseason performance where he posted 10 points, seven assists and four rebounds.
“As far as our expectations for him or anything like that, our only expectation for him is to focus on this,” Presti said. “This is his most important priority. He’ll be back playing basketball when he’s able to, but we’re not putting any type of expectations on him. He has our total support, encouragement, love. Guys on the team have been amazing. [Topić] is a really remarkable guy … He has all the tools that you could ask for somebody to take on and conquer this situation, and we just want to make sure we’re addressing it as we can, but also call on everybody to recognize that it’s a private matter.”