NEW YORK – Tuesday’s NBA draft is considered to be generational, leading a third of the league to tank and commissioner Adam Silver to change the lottery system in an attempt to combat it.
But something that it’s not compared to recent ones? International.
James Harden remains the last American-born NBA MVP, having won the award in 2018. Since then, it has gone to the likes of Giannis Antetokounmpo (Greece), Nikola Jokic (Serbia), and Shai Gilgeous-Alexander (Canada), among others.
While recent drafts have been headlined by Victor Wembanyama, Zaccharie Risacher, and 11 international players taken in 2025, Tuesday’s has just two players projected to go in the first round.
Michigan’s Aday Mara (Spain) could be the rare senior lottery pick, but Mexico’s Karim López is the real international star of the draft.
Just 19, López’s story already has the makings for a movie. After growing up in the state of Sonora, López left his family at age 14 and moved to Spain to play professionally. He spent the past two seasons in Australia’s National Basketball League and, at 6-foot-9, has been compared to Nuggets forward Aaron Gordon.
“He’s tough and rugged,” ESPN analyst Fran Fraschilla said Monday. “He’s coming into the NBA with a toughness and physicality and athleticism, and that’s going to bode well for him.”
López is expected to be the first Mexican-born player selected in the draft’s first round and had a horde of foreign media following him around on Monday. The league has had a G League team in Mexico City since 2020, and Silver has long floated the idea of one day putting an NBA team there.
Deputy commissioner Mark Tatum was recently asked about López and expects him to have a large following in the NBA, even though he’s considered more of a developmental prospect.
“Obviously, you see the impact that a player like Victor Wembanyama has, not just in France, but in Europe,” Tatum said. “I think Karim will have that same impact where Mexican fans will be rooting for him wherever he goes.”
Part of the draft’s thin international pool is due to the rise of foreign players going the college route first, which was popularized by Illinois’ Final Four run with its ‘Balkan Five.’
Other programs saw the Illini’s success and are doing their best to replicate it, including LSU’s Will Wade, who is recruiting his own superteam of foreign players as a result.
López is expected to be taken between the 10th and 20th picks on Tuesday and make history when he does. The NBA has played more games in Mexico than any foreign country and will host its 35th NBA game in November between the Pacers and Nuggets.
While this year’s draft is light on international prospects, fewer have the potential to grow the game outside the country the way López does.
“A goal of mine is to hopefully reach young people in Mexico,” López said in March when he declared for the draft. “Trying to grow the sport and inspire athletes and people in general to follow their dreams. Show people that it doesn’t matter where you’re from.”
