{"id":2007636,"date":"2026-06-24T04:17:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:17:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007636"},"modified":"2026-06-24T04:17:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-24T01:17:08","slug":"karim-lopez-becomes-first-mexican-born-nba-first-round-draft-pick","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/?p=2007636","title":{"rendered":"Karim L\u00f3pez becomes first Mexican-born NBA first-round draft pick"},"content":{"rendered":"
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With the No. 21 pick in the NBA Draft, Karim L\u00f3pez, born in Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora, became the first Mexican-born first-round pick in league history.<\/p>\n

The gravity of the moment was not lost on L\u00f3pez or his family, as he briefly teared up while being interviewed after the pick.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt\u2019s just super special,\u201d L\u00f3pez, 19, said, choking back tears. \u201cI\u2019m blessed. I mean, I have no words.\u201d<\/p>\n

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L\u00f3pez brought his history in his suit jacket, which he showcased during the interview. A custom design inside the jacket featured Mexico\u2019s tricolor flag alongside other images symbolizing his Mexican heritage.<\/p>\n

\u201cYeah, I just wanted to represent my culture, represent where I\u2019m from, represent my faith, and just represent myself, basically,\u201d L\u00f3pez said. \u201cShow who I am.\u201d<\/p>\n

The Memphis Grizzlies traded with the Detroit Pistons for L\u00f3pez, who left home in Mexico at 14 for Joventut Badalona\u2019s youth academy in Spain. He grew his game there before making the move to the New Zealand Breakers, where he spent the last two seasons in the National Basketball League. The 6-foot-8 forward averaged 11.9 points and 6.1 rebounds in 2025-26 while playing against grown men in Australia\u2019s top professional league.<\/p>\n

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Overall<\/span> 24<\/span><\/span> Forward<\/span> 7<\/span><\/span><\/div>\n

Karim Lopez<\/span><\/span> NZ Breakers<\/span><\/span> <\/p>\n

Big and skilled for his young age, but movement and agility leave a lot to be desired.<\/p>\n

Read full profile \u203a<\/span><\/div>\n<\/div>\n

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\u201cWe always knew it,\u201d his dad, Jes\u00fas Hiram L\u00f3pez, said. \u201c\u2026 I know how hard he works, and I knew he was special from day one.\u201d<\/p>\n

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Memphis traded twice to acquire L\u00f3pez, obtaining him after the Pistons drafted him at No. 21. In return for essentially moving back from the No. 16 draft position, Memphis received two second-round picks from the Oklahoma City Thunder and three more from the Pistons.<\/p>\n

The Athletic<\/em>\u2019s John Hollinger gave the pick an \u201cA\u201d grade in his post-draft analysis<\/a>. \u201cI had Karim L\u00f3pez rated quite a bit higher than this and was surprised to see him slide this far,\u201d Hollinger wrote. \u201cMemphis execs put in the work to see him down under, for what it\u2019s worth, and by moving down from No. 16 before picking L\u00f3pez, the Grizzlies added five second-round picks while also nabbing a young, two-way forward who can be part of this rebuild.\u201d<\/p>\n

Prior to L\u00f3pez, the only other Mexican-born player drafted was Eduardo N\u00e1jera in 2000. N\u00e1jera was selected 38th in the second round by the Houston Rockets that year and then traded to the Dallas Mavericks on draft night. N\u00e1jera played 12 seasons in the NBA for the Dallas Mavericks, Golden State Warriors, Denver Nuggets, New Jersey Nets and Charlotte Bobcats.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

With the No. 21 pick in the NBA Draft, Karim L\u00f3pez, born in Hermosillo in the Mexican state of Sonora, became the first Mexican-born first-round pick in league history. The gravity of the moment was not lost on L\u00f3pez or his family, as he briefly teared up while being interviewed after the pick. \u201cIt\u2019s just […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":1,"featured_media":0,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[1],"tags":[226,241],"class_list":["post-2007636","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","hentry","category-uncategorized","tag-crawlmanager","tag-nytimes-com"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007636","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/users\/1"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcomments&post=2007636"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=\/wp\/v2\/posts\/2007636\/revisions"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fmedia&parent=2007636"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Fcategories&post=2007636"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/analyse.optim.biz\/index.php?rest_route=%2Fwp%2Fv2%2Ftags&post=2007636"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}