Wednesday afternoon, the OKC Thunder announced that recent lottery-selected guard Nikola Topic had officially undergone successful surgery to repair his partially torn ACL sustained earlier this year while with the Red Star Belgrade of the Serbian SuperLiga.
Despite the repair, according to numerous health professionals and NBA Insiders, the rehabilitation process will take many months for it to fully recover, meaning it's more than likely the 18-year-old will miss the entirety of his first season in the association in 2024-25.
On the one hand, such news is far from ideal to hear, as fans and the franchise as a whole would likely love to see the highly touted floor general contribute toward their championship aspirations as soon as possible.
On the flip side, however, the club has already witnessed a success story regarding a redshirted youngster in Chet Holmgren, which should instill confidence that holding out for his time of eligibility could wind up being well worth it in the end.
As an added bonus, in situations such as these, teams are allowed to apply for a disabled player exception, which is granted "when an NBA team has a player go down with an injury deemed to be season-ending," as detailed by Hoops Rumors.
Players OKC Thunder must target with potential DPE
If accepted, this exception would allow the Thunder to sign a replacement player for 50% of Topic's salary, which would be roughly $2.5 million.
While Oklahoma City is certainly set in the talent department heading into this coming campaign, it couldn't hurt them to add a bit more depth to their arsenal to further strengthen their talent pool and, as for who the front office could potentially add with a DPE, there are three names, in particular, that should be strongly considered.
Jacob Gilyard
Following the Josh Giddey trade from late last month and, now, with the news that Nikola Topic is expected to be sidelined for the entire 2024-25 season, the Thunder find themselves somewhat lacking in the point guard and secondary facilitator department.
Jacob Gilyard may not be a household name, but he's a talent who can help address both of these areas for the franchise.
do do do do do do do @G1LYARD x @santialdama
— Memphis Grizzlies (@memgrizz) October 12, 2023
📺 @GrizzOnBally pic.twitter.com/PHp1A3TDPV
Last season, the second-year pro spent a large chunk of his days with the Grizzlies organization.
While he never emerged as a true game-changer, in both settings Gilyard showed potential as being a low-usage contributor who can run an offense and knock-down open jumpers.
In 37 games played with the Grizzlies last year, the 26-year-old would go on to post 4.7 points, 3.5 assists, and just shy of a steal per contest while shooting 42.5 percent from distance.
In no way should anyone be under the impression that Gilyard is somehow the answer to their backcourt deficiencies behind Shai Gilgeous-Alexander at the one. Heck, on the free agency market alone there are several other players worth taking a stab at with a minimum deal.
However, this DPE is of a value far lower than the non tax-payer's MLE (up to $12.8 million), meaning, should they wish to address this area of the rotation with the former, Gilyard may be the best option they could snag.