Recently, Rick Pitino publicly called out the entire NBA, and specifically the OKC Thunder, for being void of any real point guard talent.
In fact, the Hall of Fame headman revealed during his tirade at an open scrimmage at St John's University that he believes the entire sport of basketball seems to have officially moved on from the position in a traditional sense, saying, "The days of John Stockton are long gone."
Now, by his definition, the term "point guard" seems to refer to someone who's "looking for the assist," as he put it, rather than players he name-dropped specifically, such as Shai Gilgeous-Alexander and Jalen Brunson, whose primary focus on offense is on scoring.
Frankly, in Pitino's defense, there is some serious credence to his claim that the conventional, floor general of years past is no longer all that prevalent in the modern era of the game. Since the 2010s, basketball, particularly the NBA, has moved to more of a positional versatility style of play.
With that said, to say "the point guard is totally done in basketball" may be a bit of a stretch, and the Thunder have one player on their roster who could end up making the storied coach eat these words.
Thunder rookie Nikola Topic fits Rick Pitino's 'point guard' criteria
Nikola Topic, the 12 pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, came into the association as a highly buzzed-about talent thanks not to his scoring prowess but his ability to take control of the floor and distribute at an elite level.
Following an impressive 2023-24 season where he dished out 6.4 dimes per night while playing for both Mega MIS and Crvena zvezda back in Serbia, Topic managed to establish himself as a top-billed prospect who, before tearing his ACL that May, was considered a legitimate option to be taken with the top selection in the draft
Had he waited to enter the 2025 class, despite being shelved for a full year, some scouts believe that he still would have been a contender for a top-five pick.
Instead, the Thunder lucked out and landed him in the back-end of last year's lottery, and, following his return to in-game action during the 2025 NBA Summer League, it now appears they may have gotten an absolute steal.
Though he displayed solid scoring abilities (averaged 10.8 points per game) and strong defensive chops (1.8 steals per game) during his stints in the Salt Lake City and Las Vegas-based offseason exhibitions, it was his set-up artistry that made him a true standout among his peers, especially when out in Sin City where he tied for first in assists per game with 7.3.
Be it when running the break or while operating as the handler in the pick-and-roll, Topic was dropping dimes left and right while serving as their primary handler for the Thunder.
With his strong play, coach Mark Daigneault now seems to have some serious decisions to make when it comes to the one spot on OKC's depth chart, as the 19-year-old has the makings of serving as a key, long-term cog in the rotation.
Based on his skill set, there's a strong chance that Topic will not only help elevate Oklahoma City's middling set-up game that saw them dish out a putrid 17.6 assists a night during the 2025 NBA Finals, but, simultaneously, disprove Pitino's stance that the traditional, pass-first point guard is dead.