Karim López heading to the NBA: key victory and 15 points
Mexican prospect Karim López stood out this Saturday against the Cairns Taipans, being one of his team’s top scorers.
Karim Lopez and the New Zealand Breakers added their fifth victory of the season this Saturday visiting Cairns, Australiawith the important participation of the Mexican during the match against the coleros of the Australian league, in what meant the second victory in the last three duels for the Mexican team.
López was a starter and played 20 minutes on the court, with a final line of 15 points, three rebounds and an assist in the victory of 102-96 for his team. Among the important moments for the Mexican, a dunk in the first quarter made the arena resound when López took Kyrin Galloway to the rim before rising and finishing the play with his right arm.
In the second quarter, López contributed a great defensive play by handling a pass into the paint intended for Jack McVeigh – the top scorer of the match with 35 points – and create an opportunity for the Breakers on the other side of the floor that ended in a Sam Mennenga.
It should be noted that López remained in the Top 10 in the NBL with 14 blocks after this gamebeing eighth. Additionally, his average of 0.9 blocks per game ranks ninth in this metric. He has participated in all 15 of the Breakers’ games this season, and has already made 19 three-pointers made so far this season, one shy of tying the mark of 20 he made the previous season in 25 games.
López showed dynamism throughout his participation, especially on the defensive side, where he had a difficult task against McVeigh for much of the night, who ended up scoring 35 points in 40 minutes of play, although defensively his participation was marked by a steal and a block.
In the current season, López is averaging 10.3 points, 6.2 rebounds, 1.9 assists and 49 percent of his shots, all a notable improvement over the previous year, his first season in the NBL. With the victory, the New Zealand Breakers They improved their record to five wins and ten losses so far in the 2025-26 campaign, while Cairns sat bottom of the table at 3-12.
Karim López, lottery selection
In the last AM850 Mock Draftanalyst Jeremy Woo placed López in the eleventh pick, speculating that he could go to the Memphis Grizzlies, who will have the selection of the Phoenix Suns in 2026.
Among the praise for Karim, Woo comments that “he has been productive in his second season in Australia, making 40 percent of his three-point shots, showing progress offensively and participating with the rebounds.” As growth areas, Woo highlights that López must seek more contact in the paint to shoot more free throwsand that a little more consistency is needed on the defensive side to continue growing in profile prior to the NBA Draft.
“His style of play is very well suited to the modern NBA. Teams are looking for tall players who play well from the perimeter“, and that they can be good passers, good ball handlers and good scorers,” Woo said of López last September. “What (Karim) is doing is impressive simply because there are very few players who have been able to follow that path coming from Mexico.”
In February of this year, it is worth noting that a previous edition of this column had López potentially as the sixth pick in the Draft, in a year full of very talented young players. By 2026, players like Kansas guard Darryn Peterson, BYU wing AJ Dybantsa and Cameron Boozer are projected topower forward from Duke are the first three selected, and also players who can immediately impact the progress of their respective teams.
That is, López is still in the first group of potential selections heading to 2026, the lottery group, which includes the worst 14 teams in the NBA, who in theory have a chance of being chosen to have the first pick in the Draft. In the history of the NBA, no Mexican has been selected in the first round, with Eduardo Najeraselected in the second round by Houston Rockets (and later exchanged to the Dallas Mavericks) the only López countryman who has heard his name in the Draft.
Next duels
There will be an extended break for López and the Breakers, whose next game is until December 3, against the Sydney Kingswho will mean an important test for the Mexican team, since they are fifth in the general table with a record of seven wins and six losses.
Three days later, they will face the Tasmania JackJumpersin what will be a good opportunity to catch the team that is directly above them in the NBL table, with a record of six wins and nine losses.
