Lopez: 'Why NBL Next Stars prepared me for NBA'

• ‍López’s leap: Breakers teen shaping as NBA lottery pick‍
• NBL's Next Stars: A proven pathway to the NBA‍
• NBL Next Stars send global NBA message

Karim Lopez will represent an astonishing more three of the five NBL Next Stars selected in the NBA Draft when his name is called next week in New York.

Mexican wing Lopez, 19, spent two years as an NBL Next Star for the New Zealand Breakers.

He is a projected lottery pick, with the latest mock draft sending him to the Charlotte Hornets, where Australian Boomers’ guard Josh Green plays, at pick 14.

When Lopez is selected in the 2026 NBA Draft, the NBL Next Stars program will have produced 15 NBA draftees from 22 alumni – a success rate of 68.2%.

“The dream has always been to make the NBA, since I can remember, honestly," Lopez told Yahoo! Sports NBA.

"Since I'm a baby, probably, since I have views of my brain.

"My dad used to play pro in Mexico, play with the national team, so that's how I kind of got into basketball."

"Ever since I was really young, I watched the NBA.

“Like every hooper in the world, you dream about making it one day."

Lopez is expected to be the Mexican-born player taken in the first round of the NBA draft, and he revealed that joining the Next Stars Program and competing against grown men in the NBL only reinforced his belief that he could compete at the next level.

"Going into year one with the Breakers, I didn't necessarily know what to expect," he admitted.

"You're going into a whole new environment.

“As a 17-year-old kid, I was super skinny, going against people that are 30, people that have been pros for 10-plus years.

"At first, I was just trying to adapt, but I knew in the back of my mind I was ready for it.

"I really always knew that I was ready for it, and I was gonna make an impact, and I was gonna be good in there.

"I feel like it took me a couple of games, but I adapted pretty quick.

"Coming into Year 2, I knew the team, I knew the league, I knew the pro life.

"I was much more confident.

"I was way better. I was faster, I was stronger, I was bigger. I was just better overall.

"I had more experience, so I feel like I improved way too much across the board.

"I got the ball a bit more in the second year."

Lopez didn’t just improve in his two seasons with the New Zealand Breakers – he transformed from a promising teenage prospect into one of the most complete players to come through the NBL Next Stars program.

As a 17-year-old in NBL25, Lopez averaged 9.6 points, 4.7 rebounds, and 1.2 assists in 22.9 minutes per game while shooting 45.7% from the field.

By NBL26, he had taken a significant leap.

Lopez increased his production across almost every major category, averaging 11.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.0 blocks and 1.2 steals in 25.6 minutes per game while lifting his field goal percentage to 49.4% and maintaining a strong 73.9% from the free throw line.

The growth wasn’t just statistical.

He became more comfortable creating offence with the ball in his hands, showed improved playmaking and emerged as a legitimate two-way weapon.

But he has declared there is much more to come, especially shooting the basketball.

"I think that's something I've always been good at, developing throughout the years," he said.

"I'm a really confident shooter, and I think if you watch the film, you can see it.

"The shots I was taking, I was not hesitant at all.

"I was letting it fly, even from behind the arc, even with a contest.

"I'm really confident as a shooter."

"I had the opportunity to show it a little bit more this last year than the first one.

"A lot of other stuff that I haven't maybe fully shown, or maybe I've shown flashes, but I haven't consistently shown, that I know I can do and that I know I will do at the NBA level as years go by and I improve.

"You guys haven't seen it all. Definitely not.

"It's something I really feel good about, my abilities to do that.

"That Dirk fadeaway, if you can call it like that, I feel like it's a shot that I'm pretty good at, that I've always been pretty good at.

"I'll continue to show it more, show more of my skills and my talent."

In the meantime, another NBL Next Star will graduate to the NBA.

Next up: Dash Daniels, Luke Paul and Malique Lewis.