Karim López: The Latino who seeks to be the next NBA star
Karim López is emerging to be the first Mexican to be selected in the first round of the NBA draft in 2026.
Hermosillo, Mexico – less than one block from the city center, on a court that knows very well, Karim Lópezplayer of the New Zealand Breakers in the NBL and prospect for the NBA Draft In 2026, it bootes a basketball ball for the cameras. A lady stops to observe him, takes advantage of a break, and approaches him to talk.
“It’s him, right?”
Karim stops and smiles. The lady continues. “You’re the basketball player, right?” He knows that he is in the presence of a celebrity, although he is not sure of exactly who it is. She says to know who she is, but she doesn’t remember her name. He says he has it at the tip of his tongue, the nervousness of the moment is the culprit that he has forgotten.
In the end, Karim takes a selfie with the lady and signs an autograph. After the lady, several more are encouraged to take photos. A few minutes, the rage ends and Karim continues with the filming. It is difficult for anyone who measures 2.03 meters (6’8 ”in feet and inches) to go unnoticed, and for some years now, Karim, who turned 18 last April, is a local celebrity. But this level of fame is still comfortable. There is ambiguity, after all.
Soon, all that could change.
Basketball player from day one
In a few months, Karim could become a true celebrity among the millions of basketball fans in Mexico, the United States and the world. The one born in Hermosillo is positioned to be the first Mexican player to be selected in the first round in the history of the NBA Draft, and join the best league in the world.
It would be prophetic then, since, from birth, basketball is a central theme in his life. Although, today the sport is responsible for its life presenting both potential, that April 12, 2007, it was also the culprit of an event that, to date, causes a lot of emotion within their family.
“I was not present when (Karim) was born,” he says Jesús Hiram López, Karim’s father. “I was in my last year of university in the United States; nervous because my wife already had several hours on the subject of childbirth.”
Hiram studied and played basketball in Southwest Baptist University, a private school in Bolivar, Missouri. In the summer of 2007, he was also called to the Mexican National Teamwhich prevented him from being next to his wife Claudia at the time of Karim’s arrival. It was not until after a month that father and son could meet.
Already as a professional, Hiram spent the vast majority of his career in Mexico, a situation that allowed Karim to always be close to the stall. The family remembers that, before or after the meetings, the son accompanied the father about the stave, and took the opportunity to start practicing the sport under the lights of the gyms.
“I was born playing basketball, that is, since I was born I am with the ball in my hand,” recalls Karim. “I went with (my dad) to the games and sometimes it helped him a little. When the teams went to the dressing room I got to the court to throw a little.”
Love inherited to basketball allowed Karim, as a child, to join youth teams where he began to structure his game. In Hermosillo, the capital of the state of Sonora that is located northwest of Mexico, there is a long -lived culture of sports such as baseball, boxing, and of course – basketball, which allows an ideal instruction for young people.
Currently, selected Mexicans from Sonora include Francisco Cruz, a long career in European basketball; the national coach Omar Quintero, and Karim, among others. But at first, even those closest to Karim could not predict that it would have a brilliant future. His first coach, the Sonoran Alejandro Leyva, remembers that he cost him work to uncover his potential at the beginning.
“Karim as a child was not one of the most outstanding, that is important to say it,” says Leyva, who adds 17 years of experience as a basketball coach. “Karim belongs to a very talented generation here in Sonora. He was the best player in training, (but) something happened to him when he was a real game, he was not himself.”
When Karim was 12 years old, Leyva took him to a youth tournament in Las Vegas, where according to the coach, the player who now shines in the Australia League It began to emerge. That participation began to arouse interest from talent seekers, who put themselves in contact with the family to continue the boy’s development.
In 2022, when Karim was just 14 years old, the Joventut Badalona from Spain to offer a professional contract and take it to the team that developed future notable players such as Rudy Fernandez and Ricky Rubiowho had a career of more than a decade in the NBA with five teams.
After two years with the youth team, López debuted with the professional team at age 17 in the 2023-24 season. At the end of the campaign, he received an offer from the New Zealand Breakers of the NBL, the Australian League.
Present consolidated, brilliant future
Last December, Claudia Mondacaflew from Mexico to New Zealand to spend 10 days with Hiram and Karim. It was the first time she saw her husband and her son in a few months. The López Mondaca family spent Christmas in Auckland, and a short time later, Claudia and her daughter, Karim’s younger sister, returned home.
“I think it is the heavy thing of this career (as a professional basketball player), the constant movement, but enjoy it and get used to it because, then, this is already a ritual,” says Claudia. “As I supported my husband at the time, I think it’s the same (with Karim).”
In New Zealand, López has established himself as a professional, he is part of the program NEXT STARS OF THE NBLdesigned to attract young talents and prepare them for the maximum league worldwide. In recent years, this program has given results with elements such as Lamelo Ball, star of the Charlotte Hornets; Alex Sarr, from the Washington Wizards and Josh Giddey, of the Chicago Bulls. The three were Top 10 teams in their respective NBA drafts.
After his first season with the Breakers, López seems to be aimed at a destination similar to those mentioned above. In October, he became the youngest player in the history of the NBL to get a double-double, with 13 points and 10 rebounds against the Sydney Kings. In January, he had his most prolific game in terms of points, scoring 20 units against South East Melbourne Phoenix.
“What he is doing (Karim) is impressive simply because there are very few players who have been able to follow that path coming from Mexico,” says Jeremy Woo, NBA draft analyst. “His style of play is very well coupled to the modern NBA. The teams are looking for high players to play well from the perimeter, and that they can be good pins, good managing the ball and good scoring.”
A quick look at any Karim plays compilation on YouTube makes it clear that it already dominates several of those categories. In Australia, he finished his first season with 9.6 points and 4.7 rebounds per game at just 22.9 minutes per game. López admits that when it comes to his shot of three, there is an area of opportunity, but in general, in a league where practically each team has ex NBA players, Karim has impressed his own and strangers.
The second (and probably last) NBL season for López started in September. During the next months, NBA talent seekers will follow the Mexican closely, who, according to Woo, already have it among the 10 best prospects for the next draft.
If Karim continues to develop in his current team, it is very likely that next summer he will call him Adam Silver, the NBA Commissionerto the podium as one of the first novice players that are integrated into the league where the best of the entire planet are located.
“It always comes at that time when you are about to fall asleep and start thinking about what it can be,” says Karim. “But I also try not to think about that because it can be a distraction too.”
That moment will be a before and then for obvious reasons, but will also raise Karim to the Olympus of current Mexican athletes, precisely because of the shortage of NBA level basketballists in the history of the country. Only four players – Horacio Llamas, Eduardo Najera, Gustavo Ayon and Jorge Gutiérrez– They were born in Mexico and arrived at the League.
Recently, Mexico American Juan Toscano-Anderson and Jaime Jaquez Jr.they have been well received by a Mexican audience where there are more and more fans for the NBA. The League estimates that there are 30 million fans throughout the country, which have served to set up pre -season and regular season in Mexico City, mostly, as well as expand to that same city with the Captainsfirst team in the history of the G League in having headquarters outside the United States or Canada.
That is why there is so much hope in what can continue for Karim, not only of its closest environment or the basketball community in Hermosillo, Sonora or Mexico itself. The image of seeing the young Mexican next to players like Nikola Jokic, Shai Gilgeous-Alexander, Jayson Tatum, Luka Doncic or maybe even LeBron Jameshis child hero, is enough to increase the popularity of the NBA in the country and open that international market even more.
“I hope you are still (LeBron) if I get to the NBA,” Karim admits. “Everything can happen, but I hope he is there to play against him and enjoy my idol.”
But for now, it is enough that some people recognize it in Hermosillo, or in Auckland from time to time. What could happen in the future, could well vanished in a moment. For this reason, Karim López currently lives in a somewhat contradictory state: with firm feet on the ground, but so close to the sky that he can almost touch it.
“In the end I am not (in the NBA) yet, I have to keep trying to get to that moment that I have dreamed so much,” he says.
