Karim Lopez is walking into Summer League with a real chance to turn heads.
The Grizzlies made a few moves on the board before taking Lopez 21st overall in this year’s draft, and the 19-year-old arrives with the kind of profile that usually comes with equal parts excitement and uncertainty. He spent two seasons in the NBL with the New Zealand Breakers, and while there are fair questions about how his game will hold up in the NBA, Memphis is about to get its first extended look at what he can do against top-level competition.
Most of the spotlight in Memphis will naturally stay on Cam Boozer, the third overall pick and the player many see as a potential franchise cornerstone. But Lopez is the other young name worth watching closely, especially now that he’s set to get a bigger stage in a few days.
The early evidence suggests he can handle that stage.
Two years ago, the New Zealand Breakers played the Utah Jazz in a preseason game, and Lopez got a chance to test himself against NBA talent at just 17 years old. The Breakers lost by 29 points, but Lopez still put up 13 points, 7 rebounds, 3 assists, and 2 steals.
That showing, along with his work in the NBL, helps explain why Zach Kleiman had his eye on him months before the 2026 NBA Draft. Even with questions about his jumpshot and his ability to create on the ball, Lopez clearly had enough going for him to stay on Memphis’ radar.
Now he gets the chance to show it in front of Grizzlies fans.
Memphis has plenty of young pieces in the mix as the rebuild takes shape, and much of the team’s future success will depend on Cedric Coward, Zach Edey, and Cam Boozer. Still, Lopez has an opening to make his own case and maybe even emerge as one of the steals of the 2026 NBA Draft.
At the combine, he measured 6 foot 8.25 and 221.8 pounds, giving him real size for his age and the kind of frame that could let him play either forward spot. That physical profile matters, especially for a player who already proved he could survive and produce in a league as rugged as the NBL.
Lopez averaged 11.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, and 2.2 stocks per game there, and the production came with the kind of toughness Memphis tends to value. He’ll still need to sharpen his jumpshot and improve his on-ball creation, but he brings more than just tools. He’s a strong rebounder, a solid playmaker, and a smart off-ball offensive player.
Put all that together, and Summer League starts to look like the right stage for him. Based on what he’s already shown in the NBL and in that preseason game against the Jazz, Lopez has a real shot to be one of the Grizzlies’ biggest standouts this summer.
In Other News...
Santi Aldama May Be Memphis Last Painful GrzNxtGen Decision
Santi Aldama has become the lingering piece of a Grizzlies era that is already almost entirely gone, and Memphis now has to decide whether to keep the versatile big man as part of the next roster build or treat him as another movable contract. With Ja Morant out of the picture and the front office still reshaping the books, Aldamas deal, which runs through this season and next with a team option on the second year, gives the Grizzlies some flexibility if they choose to shop him rather than hold.
Around the league, that sort of contract has started to invite speculation, and Memphis has been loosely connected to possible trade ideas that would send Aldama elsewhere in exchange for future value or roster balance. The New Orleans and Oklahoma City possibilities have both been floated in that conversation, which is a reminder that the Grizzlies are still working through the cost of their reset and may not be done making painful choices about which names from the last core survive the transition. [Read more 🡒]