// uncheckedCastNullableTToT is safe because bufferSize > 0.
      if (comparator.compare(elem, uncheckedCastNullableTToT(threshold)) > 0) {
        threshold = elem;
      }
      // uncheckedCastNullableTToT is safe because bufferSize > 0.
    } else if (comparator.compare(elem, uncheckedCastNullableTToT(threshold)) < 0) {
      // Otherwise, we can ignore elem; we've seen k better elements.
      buffer[bufferSize++] = elem;