ALTHOUGH the New Zealand Breakers sustained a third loss for the 2025/26 National Basketball League (NBL) season, this time at the hands of the Perth Wildcats, Next Star Karim Lopez was able to still catch the eye.

Now in his second year with the Breakers in the NBA pathway program, Lopez was touted for an improved season on the offensive end, having shown glimpses of his potential in a strong first-up campaign that has seen him emerge as a top-10 candidate for next year’s draft.

Lopez’s Breakers hosted the Wildcats at Spark Arena over the weekend, with both sides eager to get on the winners list in Round 2 after struggling to find success in the opening week of play. New Zealand would have home court advantage, but needed to improve on poor showings heading into the matchup.

In the most see-sawing affair of the 2025/26 season to date, a swing of scoring runs in the final term ended with the Wildcats scoring the final 17 points of the match to emerge 11-point winners in an impressive road victory, leaving the Breakers still searching for their first win.

Despite a disappointing result from a team perspective, Lopez was still able to showcase his talents with a magnificent first half showing that really kept his team in the contest in a clear display of his improvements in terms of offensive production.

New Zealand (78) def. by Perth Wildcats (89)

Karim Lopez – 16 points, seven rebounds, one assist

Pouring in 14 of his 16 points in the first half, Lopez exploded over the first 20 minutes of play, showing that once he gets going and finds the right level of aggression with ball in hand, he can heat up as a scorer.

He began the match by chasing down a miss from teammate Izaiah Brockington and putting up a quick mid-range jumpshot to open his account for the match with encouraging signs when it came to his jumper. Impressively, this was also through some tough contact, earning the and-one opportunity after the defence overstepped the mark when contesting the shot, and converting truly at the charity stripe.

Lopez continued to get his hands on offensive rebounds, and started to become an arial threat when he got on the end of an alley-oop dunk, courtesy of a nice Parker Jackson-Cartwright. Lopez’s ability to chase down misses from his own team was crucial in creating consecutive possessions before he headed to the bench for a well-earned rest.

The young gun started the second quarter on the court, but was quiet for the first half of the period, unable to get involved as frequently as he did in the opening frame. However, the drought was broken midway through the term when Lopez nailed a three-point bomb to bring the margin back just when it looked as if the Wildcats were going to break away.

He suddenly found his aggression from the first quarter and was able to earn more trips to the free throw line, and he was accurate most of the time, nailing three of his four attempts for the term. To close out the half, Lopez nailed another three-pointer from long range to keep the margin at just two points at the main change.

Lopez was well-held in the second half, adding just two more free throws to his tally for the match, but his ability to still provide a contest on the glass and generate extra possessions for his team proved vital in keeping the Breakers in the match.

He finished with 16 points on 4/12 shooting from the field and 6/7 shooting from the free throw line to be the second leading scorer for the Breakers. Four of his seven rebounds also came on the offensive end in what was a promising sign of his ability to impact on the glass, and his overall performance will have caught the eye of NBA scouts.