A summer filled with celebration nears its end. Only a month remains until the Oklahoma City Thunder start the 2025-26 regular season. The NBA champion has enjoyed its accomplishments, but soon a new marathon will start with them at the top.
Bringing back mostly the same roster, the Thunder are the consensus title favorite. They’re viewed as a team that could pull off the rare feat of being a back-to-back champion. Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jalen Williams and Chet Holmgren all signed contract extensions this offseason to keep their title window wide open.
To prepare for the 2025-26 regular season, Thunder Wire will lay out three goals for all 17 players on the roster. OKC has 15 standard players and two two-way players. Let’s look at Nikola Topic and what he could accomplish this upcoming year:
Earn backup guard spot
Even NBA champions have roster holes. For the Thunder, that’s their backup guard spot. They succeeded last season without a traditional table-setter for their entire playoff run. That led to an inconsistent bench lineup that had no real ball-handler to orchestrate the offense. They will bet on internal development to fill that void this upcoming season, with a couple of candidates in mind.
One is Topic. He’ll play his rookie season after he sustained a torn ACL that knocked him out all of last year. Looking at the roster, you can make an argument that he’s the most talented passer. It might be too much to ask of the 20-year-old to be the backup guard throughout the season, but he should be able to get his moments.
Dominate G League
This is where Topic will likely spend most of the season. The Thunder aren’t afforded the same developmental minutes as before. And with the deepest roster in the league, he will need to truly earn his minutes. That could cause him to go weeks between rotation spots. Which means he’s a textbook candidate to get some G League action.
The Thunder have utilized the OKC Blue to give their prospects a chance to play serious low-leverage minutes. Sharing the same arena and offensive system makes assignments and recalls a seamless process. The 20-year-old could cause OKC fans to tune into its G League affiliate.
Play safe basketball
It only took one Summer League to see how daring a passer Topic is. He wasn’t afraid to thread the needle. Whether it was small pockets of space to his roller or deep passes from near full court in transition. The 20-year-old showed off his talent that made him a lottery selection. There was a price that came with that flashiness, though.
Turnovers. Topic had plenty in the Summer League. Blitzes overwhelmed him. To the point he threw possessions away at an alarming rate. While fine in a learning environment, you can’t afford that on the NBA floor. He must strike a perfect balance of pure-talent passes while also not being too turnover-prone. That’s how you lose games.
This article originally appeared on OKC Thunder Wire: OKC Thunder 3 goals: Nikola Topic should dominate G League competition
