Simply put, the OKC Thunder have absolutely dominated throughout the 2024-25 NBA season.
From attaining the fifth-most wins in a single year with 68 to becoming the youngest squad to clinch back-to-back number one seeds in a conference standings, Oklahoma City has breezed right on through the campaign with enviable ease.
Now, participating in their first Western Conference Finals in nearly a decade, the ball club is just two wins away from advancing to the championship round and, in turn, six wins away from taking home the franchise's first Larry O'Brien Trophy since their Seattle SuperSonics days back in 1979.
And yet, even with all of these incredible accomplishments and being on the cusp of ultimate glory, it's hard to ignore the fact that they've managed to do all of this without being fully intact for the entirety of the year.
What's scary is that, once 2025-26 rolls around, the Thunder will become even deeper thanks to the addition of a particular forgotten guard into the rotation.
Adding Nikola Topic will only make Thunder even deeper come 2025-26
Despite being the 12 overall pick in last June's NBA Draft, top-billed rookie Nikola Topic has yet to play a lick of action with the Thunder as he's been sidelined all throughout the season since undergoing surgery to repair a partially torn ACL back in late July.
Prior to sustaining the injury while playing with the Red Star Belgrade of the Serbian SuperLiga, the Serbia native was considered by many to be one of the best prospects in his respective class, with some going as far as to suggest he could have been snatched up with the number one pick on the night had he not hurt himself.
To the benefit of Oklahoma City, the ailment had the high-potential youngster slide all the way to them at the end of the lottery, thus gifting the reigning top-seeds yet another promising prospect to add to their already elite collection.
What's most exciting about the idea of finally adding Topic to this rotation is the fact that, in many respects, he provides on-court abilities that the Thunder could have desperately used more of this year.
A natural set-up artist who was averaging 6.9 assists per game before his knee injury, the 19-year-old has the potential to be a much-needed offensive initiator and facilitator to help boost OKC's rather underwhelming non-Shai Gilgeous-Alexander-led offense, while his ball-handling skills could only stand to benefit the club's lack of reliable secondary options on this front.
Frankly, the idea of adding a recently selected lottery talent to what is already widely regarded as the deepest rotation in the game today could almost be argued as unfair.
Excitingly enough, that's exactly what the Thunder are slated to do come the 2025-26 season with the likes of Nikola Topic.