His parents are Claudia and Hiram. His father, whose full name is Jesús Hiram López, played for the Mexican national team as a center and starred in the Mexican professional league. Karim played soccer growing up but started to focus on basketball in his early teen years.
He grew up in Hermosillo, Mexico, but went to play for Spanish team Joventut in Badalona when he was 14. Starting in 2022-23, López played for the Joventut second-division team and saw action in the Adidas Next Generation Tournament. That summer, he went to the FIBA Under-16 AmeriCup Tournament and averaged more than 20 points per game to get onto scouts’ radars, even though Mexico struggled in that event. López started to see some game time for Joventut’s second-division team in 2023-24 at 16 years old, then played exceedingly well at the Next Generation Tournament that year to emerge as one of the best international prospects in his age group.
He then joined NBL Next Stars, the league that produced LaMelo Ball and Josh Giddey. López signed with the New Zealand Breakers. Because of his age upon signing, he was locked in for two years before he could become draft eligible. In his first year in New Zealand, López earned a rotation role, averaging nearly 10 points and five rebounds. His second year was marred at the start by a back injury that forced him into a minutes restriction.
By the end of the year, Lopez had averaged nearly 12 points and six rebounds. He declared for the 2026 NBA Draft as an international early entrant and is expected to be a first-round pick.
