Soon, the Denver Nuggets will pay a visit to the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Denver superstar and MVP candidate Nikola Jokic will get an opportunity to face the Thunder’s young guard, Nikola Topic in an NBA setting for the first time.
Although Topic was drafted by the Thunder last season, he missed the entire year due to an injury. When the season started for the 2025-2026 run, Topic was out, recovering from a health concern.
Now that the former first-rounder is on the floor for the Thunder, he’s set to suit up against Jokic and the Nuggets on February 27. Ahead of the action, Jokic had some high praise for the young Serbian guard.
Nikola Jokic Speaks On Nikola Topic Before Nuggets-Thunder
GettyNikola Jokic recently spoke on the Thunder rookie, Nikola Topic.
“I played with him, of course, a little bit with the national team. He’s a really good guy,” said Jokic. “Really talented. He’s the future of Serbian basketball. It’s good… He’s fighting for something that is probably more important, most important, and he won it. I’m hoping I’m going to see him tomorrow.”
“He’s the future of Serbian basketball.”
“He’s fighting something that is probably more important — most important — and he won it.”
Heading into the battle between the Nuggets and the Thunder, Denver is coming off of a big win against the Boston Celtics. Jokic saw the court for 33 minutes. He shot 11-28 from the field, making four shots from deep. He scored 30 points while producing 12 rebounds and six assists.
The Nuggets are 37-22 on the year, trying to chase down the Thunder, who remain the top team in the Western Conference.
Denver is fourth in the conference, trailing the Houston Rockets, San Antonio Spurs, and OKC. The Thunder will enter the matchup with a 45-15 record. They have a 2.0 cushion over the second-seeded Spurs at the moment.
The Rise Of Nikola Topic
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The 23-year-old started his professional run overseas. He played with the club Crvena zvezda in Serbia and was loaned out several times.
Leading up to the 2024 NBA Draft, Topic was regarded as one of the top prospects in the player pool. With the NBA’s growing interest in players outside of the NCAA, Topic was finding himself in a similar spot as Jokic—yet on a higher scale. The Thunder selected Topic with the 12th overall pick.
In May 2024, Topic suffered a torn ACL playing for his initial club. The contending Thunder were comfortable with allowing Topic to spend what would’ve been his rookie season recovering from ACL surgery.
Despite not being a part of the action, Topic was around for the Thunder’s 2025 NBA Championship run. He earned a valuable experience as a first-year NBA player, one that not every player gets.
The Thunder were hopeful that Topic would be cleared from his ACL surgery by the start of the season. Instead, he was ruled out for four-to-six weeks after undergoing a separate procedure. Topic would end up missing several months of action. He was assigned to the Thunder’s G League team in early February.
On February 12, Topic finally made his Thunder debut. He checked in off the bench for 12 minutes. The Serbian guard scored two points, while coming down with one rebound, and producing one assist.
Heading into the Nuggets matchup, Topic has five games under his belt. He is posting averages of 3.2 points, 2.0 assists, and 1.6 rebounds. The Thunder’s first-rounder is shooting 43 percent from the field and knocking down 1.0 threes per game at a 40 percent clip.
Oklahoma City and Denver will tip off at 9:30 PM ET on February 27.
Nikola Jokic Makes Feelings Clear On Thunder’s Nikola Topic