Obi Toppin: stats, last game & news

When Obi Toppin scored 34 points and hit the game-winning three-pointer in overtime against the Timberwolves in 2025, few observers remembered the winding road that had led him to that moment of grace. Obadiah Richard Toppin Jr. had gone through every possible detour before finding his place in the NBA.

Born in Brooklyn in 1998, the future power forward grew up in the Bushwick neighborhood before his family moved successively to Florida and then to New York State. His academic journey reflects that geographic instability: several high schools attended, a postgraduate year at Mt. Zion Preparatory School in Maryland, and above all a first college season at Dayton wasted due to academic ineligibility.

Paradoxically, it is this setback that shaped Toppin's character. Lightly recruited out of high school, he made the most of a late four-inch growth spurt during his postgraduate year to transform his game. At Ossining, he had already shown his leadership qualities by guiding his team to its first conference title in a decade. At Dayton, where he studied media production, he finally broke out and revealed his spectacular athleticism, particularly in the art of dunking.

Selected 8th overall by the Knicks in 2020, Toppin returned to his New York roots before being traded to the Indiana Pacers. Supported by his partner Magdalena Bellinger and surrounded by his close family, including his brother Jacob, the power forward continues to refine a game built on explosiveness and growing offensive versatility. His clutch performance against Minnesota confirms a maturity earned through many twists and turns.