He became the European MVP at the age of 18. Now he is only 20 years old. He has only played one NBA preseason game and suffered serious illness again.

As the defending champion, entering the new season, the Thunder are still showing good strength and status. At present, it seems that they are very hopeful to become the first team to complete the defense of the championship after the Warriors in 2018. However, there is still bad news for the team recently, that is, 20-year-old young player Nikola Topic has suffered from testicular cancer and is currently in the chemotherapy stage. After playing only one preseason game, his first appearance on the NBA regular season stage will be further delayed. In fact, this is the second major injury he has suffered in the past year. Let us take a look at how ill-fated this European genius was!

Produced in Serbia, a genius who reached the top of Europe at the age of 18.

Like Nikola Jokic, who is currently in the spotlight, Topic is also from Serbia. It must be said that Serbian basketball has provided many talents to the NBA in recent years. Topic comes from a basketball family. His father Milenko Topic was a member of the former Yugoslavia national team and won the Olympic silver medal in 1996. Topic was also deeply influenced by his father and began to receive systematic basketball training since he was a child.

At the age of 15, he entered the youth training camp of the European powerhouse Red Star Belgrade, where he gradually showed his talent. In the 22-23 season, Topic was rented out to OKK Belgrade and began playing in the domestic professional league. Although he was debuting in the professional arena for the first time, he did not show any stage fright. He averaged 17.8 points, 3.8 rebounds and 5.3 assists per game. His performance on the court also allowed fans to see the shadow of Goran Dragic, the former captain of the Slovenian national team and also successful in the NBA.

At the same time, Topic has already entered Serbia's U16 national team as early as 16 years old, and in the 2022 European U18 Championship, he averaged 15.3 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 5.1 assists per game, leading the team to the final championship, and he was awarded the MVP. Although he was only 17 years old at the time, in the eyes of the outside world, when the Serbian players of Jokic's generation grow old, he will be the core figure who carries the team's banner.

At the same time, with his perfect performance of 18.6 points, 3.7 rebounds, and 6.9 assists per game in the 23-24 season, Topic attracted the attention of NBA scouts. So in the summer of 2024, the 19-year-old Topic participated in the NBA draft as a new European talent, and was eventually selected by the Thunder with the 12th overall pick in the first round, successfully entering the NBA stage.

suffered consecutive injuries and only played 1 preseason game.

It must be said that the Thunder are still very courageous. After all, before participating in the NBA draft, Topic was diagnosed with a severe injury of the anterior cruciate ligament of his left knee. In the joint trial before the draft, he did not show any impressive performance. But after all, he has already proven his ability in the European arena. In addition, the Thunder's own lineup is already very strong, so they chose a big gamble. You must know that a 1.98-meter tall point guard, coupled with excellent movement control ability, good flexibility and soft touch at close range, is very popular in the NBA, not to mention his signature vision and passing ability, which makes the Thunder full of confidence.

So in the first season, they accepted Topic's request and directly reimbursed the season ahead of schedule, so that they could take a good rest and strive to 100% recover from the serious injury of ligament tear. Not only that, the Thunder also won the final championship without him, and Topic won his first NBA championship lying down.

With the arrival of the new season, Topic also hopes to prove himself. In order to prepare for the new NBA season, the Serbian national team directly left him to continue rehabilitation training when they competed in the European Championships this summer. After that, Topic returned to Oklahoma and showed good skills and abilities. Even the core of the team, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, praised him and believed that he can definitely become the core strength of the team in the future.

In the preseason, he scored 10 points, 4 rebounds and 7 assists in the first game. His overall performance and style were very close to his draft report. However, he never thought that this game would be the only time he stood on the NBA stage so far. After being diagnosed with testicular cancer not long ago, he had to rest again and undergo chemotherapy. Although the hope of curing this disease is relatively high, it is undoubtedly another kind of suffering for Topic, who has been absent for an entire season. I hope that he can really get rid of the troubles of injuries and shine on the NBA stage.