In less than a month away from the NBA Draft, the Dallas Mavericks are looking forward to building around their 19-year-old, soon-to-be star, Cooper Flagg. Several dynamic guards have been linked to the Mavs, but there's another 19-year-old wildcard that fans are nowhere near ready for.
Kevin O'Connor from Yahoo Sports has the Mavericks picking Karim Lopez at No. 9. Not the name anyone expected, as Lopez is still a mystery that's mostly been outside the lottery. In fact, he's been sitting in the middle of the first round. O'Connor says that it's Masai Ujiri's kind of guy, so not exactly the hotbed of guard talent that fans have been looking forward to, but his physical tools and defense are what he's all about.
"López is the best basketball prospect Mexico has ever produced. He checks a lot of boxes with his excellent physical tools, a hard-nosed approach, a well-rounded ability to defend multiple positions and handle the ball, and a blossoming shot. But he’s thus far more of a jack of all trades since his jumper runs hot and cold and he lacks the burst to blow by defenders off the bounce."
Kevin O'Connor blindsides Mavericks fans with Karim Lopez pick at No. 9
Lopez has been one of the quiet names in the NBA Draft, and that's for two reasons. For one, he played overseas in Mexico, not in the NCAA, so he hasn't been much of a mainstream name in the past year. Another reason is that he is a young international prospect, and sometimes, those can be hit or miss.
"He has all the requisite skills to become a longtime pro on a winning team, though, and Dallas certainly has the key piece with Flagg."
The only two questions fans have are whether he can space the floor and whether he can help Dallas improve from a bottom-tier three-point shooting team. One fear that Mavs fans have is Ujiri trying to develop the Mavs in the same way he did with Toronto. The key here is to put Flagg in a position to succeed with guys who can shoot and create spacing.
To be fair to Lopez, he's also an excellent defender in the paint. He's not going to be immediately gifted like Flagg with chase-down blocks, but the tools are there with a 6'11.5" wingspan at 6-foot-8.
O'Connor compares the 19-year-old Mexican prospect to Aaron Gordon and Kyle Kuzma. Two guys who have the raw physical tools, can knock down shots and can play multiple positions on defense.
This may be the craziest mock draft yet, but Lopez may also be the prospect that no one is talking about that may be the steal of the NBA Draft. What was surprising about O'Connor's mock draft was that Lopez has been nowhere near the top 10, but that narrative has quickly changed.
Fans would probably still like to land on a dynamic playmaking guard, but if Lopez can be the Swiss Army Knife that we think he can be, this would be a serious steal.
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