In his redshirt year, Topic had a front-row seat to Gilgeous-Alexander's historic MVP season. The 19-year-old talked about being able to see him have one of the greatest years ever. He hopes to back him up this upcoming season as the bench playmaker.

With the 12th pick in the 2024 NBA Draft, the Oklahoma City Thunder selected Nikola Topic, a 6-foot-6 combo guard out of Serbia.

Nikola Topic drives into the lane with sweet moves and gets the and-1 to fall.

This year has been nothing short of historic for Oklahoma City Thunder superstar Shai Gilgeous-Alexander. He led the league in scoring en route to the NBA MVP h

The shooting coach guru is known across the league as one of the best. He was brought over from the San Antonio Spurs in 2022. He's spent plenty of time with players like Josh Giddey and Ousmane Dieng over the years to help rework their jumpers. Now, Topic has been his next big project.

The long-awaited debut of the Oklahoma City Thunder 's 2024 first-round pick, Nikola Topic, headlined the team's Summer League opener against the Memphis Grizzlies in Utah. After signing Thomas Sorber to a multi-year deal, the Thunder got a first glimpse of its No. 12th overall pick in last year's draft.

This article was originally published on www.si.com/nba/thunder as Nikola Topic Deserves Extended Grace Period as He Works Through Wrinkles.