The 2026 NBA Draft is still a few months away, but there’s already a general sense of how the first round of the draft might shake up. One projected first-round pick, Mexico’s Karim Lopez, who is currently playing in the National Basketball League (NBL) in Australia, recently announced his intentions to enter the upcoming NBA Draft, as per Shams Charania of ESPN.
“It’s been my dream and my goal my whole life to play in the NBA,” Lopez said. “Honestly, since I can remember. I was probably like 5 years old, making drawings of myself playing in the NBA … It’s pretty special, you know, to be in this position right now.”
While Karim Lopez is expected to be selected in the first round of the NBA Draft, what is even more significant for the NBL forward is the fact that he’s on track to become the first player born in Mexico to be taken in the first round of the draft.
There have been players of Mexican descent drafted in the first round before, such as Miami Heat forward Jaime Jaquez Jr., just none that were born in Mexico. Lopez is also on track to become the first Mexican-born player since Eduardo Najera to be drafted.
Najera was the No. 38 overall pick in the 2000 NBA Draft by the Houston Rockets. He played 12 years in the NBA with the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, New Jersey Nets and Charlotte Bobcats.
Lopez has played the past two seasons in the NBL, opting to go the professional route rather than play college basketball. In recent years, players such as LaMelo Ball, Josh Giddey, AJ Johnson, Alex Sarr, Ousmane Dieng and Rayan Rupert, among others, have used the NBL’s Next Stars program as a starting point before entering the NBA Draft.
