{"id":142406,"date":"2025-05-29T09:00:22","date_gmt":"2025-05-29T13:00:22","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/?p=142406"},"modified":"2025-05-29T06:40:13","modified_gmt":"2025-05-29T10:40:13","slug":"nikola-topic-champion","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/2025\/05\/29\/nikola-topic-champion\/","title":{"rendered":"Nikola Topic is Four Games Away from History"},"content":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder made it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012. They have another roster that looks like it will remain at or near the top for years to come. The team can make history by winning the title, and Nikola Topic<\/a> can become the third-youngest youngest NBA champion. He can become the youngest to win a title without playing a single game.<\/p>\n

Nikola Topic is Four Games Away from History<\/h2>\n

The Thunder selected Topic with the 12th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft. He is considered as someone with great potential. Before coming to the NBA, he played in the Serbian League<\/a>. Topic is still only 19 years old and has a bright future ahead of him. As of May 29, 2025, he is 19 years and 292 days old. Considering the NBA Finals will end no later than June 22, even if it goes seven games, Nikola Topic will become the third youngest NBA champion<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\"\"
Nikola Topic is pictured during the Thunder media day at the Paycom Center in Oklahoma City, on Monday, Sept. 30, 2024.<\/figcaption><\/figure>\n

The two guys younger are Darko Milicic<\/a> and Jonathan Kuminga<\/a>. Milicic was only 18 years and 361 days old when the Detroit Pistons won the title in 2004. Kuminga was 19 years and 253 days old when the Golden State Warriors won it in 2022. Right now, the third guy is Talen Horton-Tucker<\/a>, who was 19 years and 321 days old when the Los Angeles Lakers won it in 2020.<\/p>\n

Nikola Topic vs. Other Young NBA Champions<\/h3>\n

Here is the interesting part. Unlike Milicic and Kuminga, Topic hasn\u2019t played a single game so far in the NBA. He tore his ACL in May 2024 during the Adriatic League playoffs. The highly touted prospect fell down in the 2024 draft<\/a> and that is how the Thunder were able to get him. He has yet to play in even a Summer League game.<\/p>\n

During his first NBA season, Milicic appeared in 34 games and averaged 1.4 points in 4.7 minutes per game. Kuminga had a larger role, appearing in 70 games (starting 12), and averaging 9.3 points in 16.9 minutes of action.<\/p>\n

The Thunder Could Get Even Better Next Year<\/h3>\n

As a prospect, Topic was seen as the one with the highest ceiling and highest floor for point guard prospects in the 2024 draft class. Without the injuries, he could have easily been a top-five pocket. When you think about the future of the OKC Thunder, they might get the third-youngest NBA champion to their roster next year.<\/p>\n

A skilled and promising young player, Topic has a unique blend of size, speed, and playmaking abilities. The Thunder can either have him run the floor for the second unit, or even flip him for a veteran contributor. There is no denying that Topic will be a good NBA player. The Thunder definitely have a need for a backup point guard, and Topic can fill that role next year<\/a>.<\/p>\n

OKC has one of the deepest rosters in the league. It will be interesting to see how much playing time Topic gets next year. Right now, their main is signed through next year, with team options in the future for Jalen Williams<\/a>, Ajay Mitchell<\/a>, Chet Holmgren<\/a>, Cason Wallace<\/a>, and Ousmane Dieng<\/a>.<\/p>\n

Photo credit: \u00a9 NATHAN J. FISH\/THE OKLAHOMAN \/ USA TODAY NETWORK via Imagn Images<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

The Oklahoma City Thunder made it to the NBA Finals for the first time since 2012. They have another roster that looks like it will remain at or near the top for years to come. The team can make history by winning the title, and Nikola Topic can become the third-youngest youngest NBA champion. He […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":5291,"featured_media":142424,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_lmt_disableupdate":"no","_lmt_disable":"","sfio_featured_image":false,"sfio_embed_code":"","_ef_editorial_meta_date_first-draft-date":"","_ef_editorial_meta_paragraph_assignment":"","_ef_editorial_meta_checkbox_needs-photo":"","_ef_editorial_meta_number_word-count":"","footnotes":""},"categories":[1608,62,3,22],"tags":[1269,4297,49139],"class_list":["post-142406","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","hentry","category-basketball","category-nba","category-news","category-thunder","tag-darko-milicic","tag-jonathan-kuminga","tag-nikola-topic"],"modified_by":"Kenny Kluska","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142406","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/5291"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=142406"}],"version-history":[{"count":7,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142406\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":142427,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/142406\/revisions\/142427"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/142424"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=142406"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=142406"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/lastwordonsports.com\/basketball\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=142406"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}