Following Monday night's 120-118 win for the Miami Heat in the 2024 Summer League Championship round, fans, pundits, and league personnel have officially been greeted with an entertaining showcase of this year's incoming rookie class and how they may potentially produce at the next level.
For the OKC Thunder, however, it may be seen as a time when they witnessed firsthand what they passed up on during this past June's NBA Draft.
Players Thunder likely regret passing on in NBA Draft
Though youngsters such as Dillon Jones and Ajay Mitchell certainly held their own throughout the festivities and displayed traits that made them heavily sought-after talents by Oklahoma City in the first place -- especially Mitchell, who's sported real 3-and-D potential through five outings --, perhaps overshadowed by their efforts was the absence of lone lottery pick, Nikola Topic.
Slated to be sidelined for the entirety of his upcoming rookie season as he rehabs from a partially torn ACL, the 12 overall selection's presence was severely missed during this year's Summer League.
Simultaneously, many players selected around him were found lighting up the hardwood on a rather consistent basis.
While it's far too early to label Sam Presti's selection of Topic as a poor move made, with heavy influence by the production put forth by some of the ballers during these summer exhibitions that could have been scooped up by the Thunder instead, there appear to be three players, in particular, OKC just might be thinking about the "what ifs" had they gone with them instead of the Serbian guard.