The New York Knicks have not been afraid to select international players in recent years. They walked out of the 2024 NBA Draft with Pacôme Dadiet and Ariel Hukporti, and Frenchman Mohamed Diawara was their lone pick in 2025.
In Christopher Kline's latest mock draft for FanSided, New York went back to the well and added 19-year-old Karim Lopez from the NBL Next Stars program. The 6'9", 220-pound forward could potentially be the first player born in Mexico to be selected in the first round.
While his game is far from polished, he has the potential to grow into the exact kind of player the Knicks need to keep infusing into their roster, year after year: long, young, physical wings.
Knicks add 19-year-old international prospect in new mock draft
In his mock draft, Kline credited Lopez as having had "one of the best seasons to date for any prospect in the NBL Next Stars program," which has had six of its players drafted in the first round over the last five of the NBA's drafts.
That includes Alexandre Sarr, who was selected #2 overall by the Washington Wizards in 2024 (and could have gone #1, if he hadn't declined to work out with the Atlanta Hawks.)
Kline also described the young forward as a "big wing slasher," the archetype of which OG Anunoby is the NBA's paragon and can help finish plays created by New York stars like Jalen Brunson or Karl-Anthony Towns.
In late February 2025, ESPN's Jonathan Givony viewed Lopez as a potential top-10 pick in this upcoming class. Jeremy Woo projected in a mock draft of his own in March of this year that Lopez would be taken off of the board by the Portland Trail Blazers with the 11th overall selection.
The range of potential outcomes is certainly representative of there being plenty of time left before the draft, but more-so that the strengths and weaknesses that Lopez's game offers teams seem pretty "hit or miss."
Kline, Givony, and Woo all described Lopez – to some extent – as a jack of all trades, but master of none. Those players, without a standout skill at the NBA level, can tend to get lost in teams' rotations if a signature ability doesn't emerge from their arsenal.
Lopez's outside shot, particularly from 3-point range, seems to be the real swing factor when it comes to his potential impact at the NBA level. If he can knock it down consistently, he can keep defenses from selling out completely on his physical drives. If he can't, he might get the non-shooter treatment of being ignored on the perimeter.
The Knicks don't need to spend a first-round pick on that kind of player, if they aren't able to separate themselves from the rest of the pack in one way or another. Only time, and plenty of pre-draft buzz, can tell just how much Lopez ends up impressing NBA teams.