Last season, Nikola Topic became the first player to win an NBA Championship without ever playing a single game in the association, as the point guard was red-shirted while recovering from a torn ACL. Now cleared for action, ESPN's Jeremy Woo believes the OKC Thunder could easily convince themselves that they don't need his services and, in turn, may use him as mere trade fodder.
In a recent piece discussing sophomores he believes warrant the most attention heading into 2025-26, Woo placed the 19-year-old within the top-10 of his rankings, arguing that Topic is the embodiment of "sheer curiosity."
Considering his lottery status from last year's draft, coupled with the fact that he boasts a classic floor general style of play accompanied by a traditional wing's build (6-foot-6, 201 pounds), it should come as little surprise that the Serbian talent is already generating buzz months ahead of his debut.
Of course, considering Oklahoma City's excessive roster depth and the fact that they're already on the cusp of becoming a dynasty, Woo argues that it's "a valid question" whether he'll be able to carve out a role for himself within coach Mark Daigneault's scheme.
Because of this, the seasoned writer suggests that he wouldn't be surprised if Topic "ultimately winds up as more of a trade asset" than anything else. Despite the uneasiness of such a claim on the surface, there's reason to believe he may be right.
Nikola Topic may be trade asset for Thunder rather than long-term staple
As noted, the Thunder have an overabundance of riches when it comes to rostering quality talent, as they had the luxury of regularly rolling out 10 to 12 men within their on-court rotation this past season.
Of those who saw ample action, the majority were predominantly backcourt dwellers. From staples like Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Lu Dort, and Alex Caruso to trusty reserves such as Aaron Wiggins, Cason Wallace, and Ajay Mitchell, coach Daigneault possessed a plethora of guard options he could utilize as needed.
After two consecutive summers of contract negotiations, all of these aforementioned players will be coming back for this season and are locked down for the next several.
Because of this, it's rather hard to believe that any of these ballers will see a reduction in their playing time moving forward simply so that OKC can roll out an unproven regular season player at the same position who has yet to showcase any semblance of a consistent jumper.
Sure, many are high on his distribution skills -- and rightly so -- but, as we saw last season, this Thunder team is more than equipped to dominate even without a strong assist game. And, with the clear signs of progress Mitchell has seen in the passing department this summer, one could easily argue that OKC already has an answer to their backup point guard position.
So, where exactly does that leave Topic?
Well, the most likely path for his rookie season is that he'll start out going back and forth between the varsity and development team, where he'll look to hone his craft while playing big minutes with the OKC Blue.
Throughout the campaign, he'll see sporadic playing time with the Thunder until he hopefully does enough to paint a clearer image of what he can potentially bring to the club as a full-time contributor.
However, with the unpredictable on-court run he's slated to see along the way, it's far from a guarantee that he'll end up proving himself to be a long-term rotation piece this year, which could lead Sam Presti and company to sell high on the young guard, perhaps for more future draft assets that could be used to add more cheap rookie talents down the road once their payroll goes into a frenzy.
Though perhaps not all that exciting to hear from a Thunder fan's perspective, this latter approach could prove to be mightily beneficial for the organization.
At the very least, as Woo stated in his piece, Topic's situation with the defending champs is something that "will be worth monitoring."