Nikola Topić ( sr-Cyrl, Никола Топић, , born 10 August 2005) is a Serbian professional

basketball Basketball is a team sport in which two teams, most commonly of five players each, opposing one another on a rectangular Basketball court, court, compete with the primary objective of #Shooting, shooting a basketball (ball), basketball (appro ...

player for the

Oklahoma City Thunder The Oklahoma City Thunder are an American professional basketball team based in Oklahoma City. The Thunder compete in the National Basketball Association (NBA) as a member of the Northwest Division (NBA), Northwest Division of the Western Confer ...

of the

National Basketball Association The National Basketball Association (NBA) is a professional basketball league in North America composed of 30 teams (29 in the United States and 1 in Canada). The NBA is one of the major professional sports leagues in the United States and Ca ...

(NBA). Standing at , he plays at the

point guard The point guard (PG), also called the one or the point, is one of the Basketball positions, five positions in a regulation basketball game. A point guard has perhaps the most specialized role of any position and is usually the shortest player ...

position.

Early career

Topić grew up playing basketball for KK Defense from his native

Novi Sad Novi Sad ( sr-Cyrl, Нови Сад, ; #Name, see below for other names) is the List of cities in Serbia, second largest city in Serbia and the capital of the autonomous province of Vojvodina. It is located in the southern portion of the Pannoni ...

from which he joined the Crvena zvezda youth system in June 2020.

Professional career

Crvena zvezda (2022–2024)

On 28 March 2022, Topić made his professional debut for Crvena zvezda in an

ABA League The ABA League, renamed the ABA League First Division in 2017, is the top-tier regional men's professional basketball league that originally featured clubs from former Yugoslavia (Bosnia and Herzegovina, Croatia, Montenegro, North Macedoni ...

match against Slovenian side Krka at the age of 16. He scored 4 points and had 5 assists over 16 minutes of playing time. At 16 years, seven months and eighteen days of age, he became the youngest player in club's history to score points for Crvena zvezda in the ABA League. On 1 April 2022, Topić made his EuroLeague debut in an 82–57 loss to Bayern Munich, becoming one of youngest players to ever play in the EuroLeague at 16 years and 253 days of age.

2022–23 season

At the start of the 2022–23 season, Topić was loaned to the Serbian team Slodes in September 2022. He returned to Crvena zvezda shortly after, and played with the team from October until December of the same year, during which in limited role he averaged 3.4 points over seven ABA League games. On 9 January 2023, the

declined and cancelled Topić's transfer to FMP Meridian. Eventually, he was loaned to OKK Beograd for the rest of the 2022–23 season. With OKK Beograd, he appeared in 19 games of the

Serbian League The Serbian League () is the third level football league in Serbia. It consists of four groups, namely Belgrade, East, Vojvodina, and West. The winner of each group earns promotion to the Serbian First League. History 1992–1995 In the summer o ...

, averaging 17.8 points on 55.2% shooting from the field, 5.3 assists and 3.8 rebounds per game.

2023–24 season

On 17 July 2023, Topić signed his first professional contract with Crvena zvezda. At the start of the 2023–24 season, Topić was loaned to the Serbian team Mega. He averaged 18.6 points, 6.9 assists and 3.7 rebounds over 13 games, before being loaned back to Crvena zvezda in December 2023. On 4 January 2024, he suffered a knee injury in a game against Partizan Belgrade. On 10 April 2024, he won the

ABA League Top Prospect The ABA League Top Prospect award, also known as the Adriatic League Top Prospect award, is an annual award given by the ABA League, Adriatic League (ABA League), which is a European regional league, that is the top-tier level professional basketba ...

award after securing more than half of the votes. He averaged 17.9 points, 6.8 assists and 3.6 rebounds when he won the award. On 27 May 2024, Topić suffered a partially torn ACL in a game against Partizan Belgrade.

Oklahoma City Thunder (2024–present)

On 26 June 2024, Topić was selected with the twelfth overall pick by the

in the

2024 NBA draft The 2024 NBA draft was the 78th edition of the National Basketball Association's annual NBA draft, draft. Unlike recent years, the 2024 draft took place over two nights. This was the first NBA draft to be held on multiple nights since the draft ...

. On 6 July, he signed with the Thunder. It was later announced that Topić was expected to miss the entirety of the 2024–25 season due to surgery on his torn ACL.

National team career

In August 2021, Topić was a member of the Serbian under-16 national team that participated at the FIBA U16 European Challengers in Novi Sad, Serbia. He played only one game, recording 17 points, 8 rebounds and 5 assists in an 83–52 win over the

Czech Republic The Czech Republic, also known as Czechia, and historically known as Bohemia, is a landlocked country in Central Europe. The country is bordered by Austria to the south, Germany to the west, Poland to the northeast, and Slovakia to the south ...

. He represented the Serbian national team in his debut on 16 August 2023 where Serbia played a friendly match against Puerto Rico.

Career statistics

EuroLeague

, - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , style="text-align:left;" rowspan="3", Crvena zvezda , 1 , , 0 , , 2.0 , , .000 , , , , , , , , , , , , , , 0.0 , , -1.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , 2 , , 0 , , 4.0 , , .000 , , .000 , , , , 1.0 , , .5 , , , , , , 0.0 , , 0.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , 2 , , 2 , , 15.0 , , .375 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.5 , , 3.5 , , .5 , , , , 3.5 , , 4.5 , - class="sortbottom" , style="text-align:center;" colspan="2", Career , 5 , , 2 , , 8.2 , , .273 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.0 , , 1.6 , , .2 , , , , 1.4 , , 1.6

Domestic leagues

{, class="wikitable sortable" style="font-size:100%; text-align:right;" ! Year ! Team ! League ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! ! , - , style="text-align:left;", 2021–22 , , style="text-align:left;", Crvena zvezda , , style="text-align:center;", ABA , , 2 , , 11.5 , , .200 , , .000 , , 1.000 , , 1.0 , , 3.0 , , 1.5 , , , , 2.0 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , , style="text-align:left;", Crvena zvezda , , style="text-align:center;", ABA , , 7 , , 8.0 , , .625 , , .250 , , 1.000 , , 1.0 , , .7 , , .3 , , , , 3.4 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2022–23 , , style="text-align:left;", OKK Beograd , , style="text-align:center;", KLS , , 19 , , 30.3 , , .552 , , .373 , , .853 , , 3.8 , , 5.3 , , 1.5 , , , , 17.8 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , , style="text-align:left;", Mega , , style="text-align:center;", ABA , , 13 , , 34.1 , , .524 , , .288 , , .850 , , 3.7 , , 6.9 , , .9 , , .1 , , 18.6 , - , style="text-align:left;", 2023–24 , , style="text-align:left;", Crvena zvezda , , style="text-align:center;", ABA , , 5 , , 15.7 , , .393 , , .333 , , 1.000 , , 1.8 , , 3.2 , , .8 , , .2 , , 6.0

Personal life

Nikola is a son of

Milenko Topić Milenko Topić (; born 6 March 1969) is a Serbian professional basketball coach and former player. Playing career A power forward, Topić spent most of his professional career playing in the YUBA League, representing Profikolor, BFC Beočin ...

, a Serbian basketball coach and former player. A

power forward The power forward (PF), also known as the four, is one of the five traditional Basketball positions, positions in a regulation basketball game. Traditionally, power forwards have played a role similar to center (basketball), centers and are typi ...

, Milenko spent most of his career in the

YUBA League The YUBA League was the top-tier men's professional basketball league in Serbia and Montenegro (previously FR Yugoslavia). Founded in 1992 and folded in 2006, it was run by the Basketball Federation of Serbia and Montenegro. The name ''YUBA Le ...

playing for Profikolor, BFC Beočin, Crvena zvezda as well, Budućnost and Hemofarm. In later career, Milenko played in Italy and Greece. Nikola's father also represented the Yugoslavian national team internationally (representing

FR Yugoslavia The State Union of Serbia and Montenegro or simply Serbia and Montenegro, known until 2003 as the Federal Republic of Yugoslavia and commonly referred to as FR Yugoslavia (FRY) or simply Yugoslavia, was a country in Southeast Europe locate ...

), with whom he won gold medals at the

EuroBasket 1997 The 1997 FIBA European Championship, commonly called FIBA EuroBasket 1997, was the 30th FIBA EuroBasket regional basketball championship held by FIBA Europe, which also served as Europe qualifier for the 1998 FIBA World Championship, giving a b ...

and the 1998 FIBA World Championship, a silver medal at the

1996 Summer Olympics The 1996 Summer Olympics (officially the Games of the XXVI Olympiad, also known as Atlanta 1996 and commonly referred to as the Centennial Olympic Games) were an international multi-sport event held from July 19 to August 4, 1996, in Atlanta, ...

, and a bronze at the EuroBasket 1999.