WITH THE 2024/25 National Basketball League (NBL) season all wrapped up, some of the competition’s Next Stars have played their final game on Australian shores, while others are gearing up for a big finals campaign to further their NBA Draft stock.

The NBA Draft is just four months away, and the NBL fixture has offered some of the world’s brightest prospects the opportunity to showcase their talents against fully developed opponents in comparison to the collegiate system, where the competition is much more even.

The Next Stars program has produced some high draft picks in recent years, highlighted by last year’s standout in Alexandre Sarr, who was selected with the second overall pick by the Washington Wizards, while Lamelo Ball, Joshua Giddey and Ousmane Dieng have also been taken in the top 10 after successful campaigns as Next Stars.

While there were only five players in the program this season, the Next Stars did provide a glimpse into the future, with several players looming as NBA draftees in June.

With that in mind, Rookie Me Central will be putting each Next Star’s campaign under the microscope, examining how each young gun performed, how much development they showed, and their current draft stock.

While Karim Lopez is not draft eligible until next year, he showed plenty of promise and certainly put his name under lights with a tremendous campaign with the New Zealand Breakers, while local talents Alex Toohey and Rocco Zikarsky have shown their capabilities now two seasons into their time in the NBL.

There are still two Next Stars set to gear up for finals campaigns, with Malique Lewis having cemented himself as a member of the SEM Phoenix, and Izan Almansa playing a crucial role in the frontcourt for the Perth Wildcats.

Kicking things off tomorrow will be Zikarsky, who was limited through injury this season, but will still garner interest from NBA sides due to his previous campaign and physical attributes, and should still find himself in draft contention.