The NBL star who's a "locked-in top 10 pick"

This season's crop of NBL Next Stars have been performing on the court for their respective teams.

The strong showings by Dash Daniels (Melbourne), Karim Lopez (New Zealand) and Malique Lewis (South East Melbourne) haven't gone unnoticed.

Draft Express' Jonathan Givony has sung the praises of the rising stars.

"It's really hard to play in a level like the Australian NBL when you're 17 or 18 years old," Givony said on a recent episode of NBL Now.

"Your feel for the game and your processing speed need to be so sharp at every moment on both ends of the floor to be able to hang, especially in a league like the NBL where the tempo is so high and there's not a lot of plays being called.

"Everybody has the freedom to take a rebound and push it off the glass, so you're being attacked from every direction.

"You also need to be a threat at all times because if you're not someone that needs to be accounted for on the offensive end of the floor, you basically become unplayable, because they're just gonna hide their worst player on you.

"They're not gonna guard you. It's a very tactical league. It's a very well-scouted league. It's a very well-coached league, so there's nowhere to hide.

"If you're a Dash Daniels or a Karim Lopez, and you're not making that consistent impact on both ends of the floor, in every single possession, you're going to get exposed.

"That's what I love about watching young players in the NBL, because they're being challenged every time that they're on the court.

"We also see that level of growth too, as there's a buy-in from the team and there's a buy-in from the league."

While this season's crop of Next Stars, a program which has had 11 players drafted (including six in the first round) in recent years, have shown flashes on both ends of the floor, Givony highlighted the defensive exploits of United's Dash Daniels.

"We know he's elite on the defensive end, that's what we've seen from him his whole career," Givony said.

"But to see him do that in this kind of setting in the NBL for a high-level defensive team like Melbourne and to see him get that primary assignment on Bryce Cotton, Kendric Davis and all the other team's best players is impressive and not something that you see every day from a 17-year-old.

"He was on the floor late in the fourth quarter against Sydney to try and slow down Kendric Davis.

"There's only so many people in the world who can slow that guy down. He's an incredible scorer.

"I thought he did a good job of fighting through screens, denying off the ball, and just using his length as much as he could to try and mirror him and contain him, and just not to give him anything easy because a guy like that, you give him easy shots, he'll drop 40 on you in an instant.

"For most guys, their defence really comes later on in their career, so to see him play this level of defence already at 17, it really says a lot about him."

On the flip side, Givony had high praise for Lopez's offence, which has seen him post career-best numbers in points (10.3), rebounds (6.2), assists (1.8), field goal percentage (51.6) and free-throw percentage (41.7).

"He's been awesome offensively this season," Givony said.

"Last year, he was a transition player who attacked closeouts, who, as the year moved on, started to make threes.

"[This season] he's taken a big step with his ball-handling ability.

"We're seeing him create off the dribble, play pick and roll and shoot 41 per cent from three on the year.

"That's really impressive and I love the level of confidence that he's displaying.

"He's made a big jump for a guy who is 18 years old. His body looks great and you can obviously see he's worked on his frame quite a bit.

"With what he's showing offensively, the guy is a locked-in top 10 pick in my view."

Another Next Star who Givony believes will be in the 2026 NBA Draft mix is Phoenix forward Malique Lewis, who is also producing career-best figures in points (8.2), rebounds (5.2), assists (2.2), steals (1.6), blocks (0.6) and three-point percentage (41.3).

"Malique Lewis is a perfect fit for Josh King with the way that they guard, putting pressure full-court, trapping, wreaking havoc, and really getting after people defensively," Givony said.

"He has a 7-1 wingspan. You can put him on point guards. He's a very impressive one-on-one defender.

"He's a 20-year-old who's contributing to winning at the highest level, which is obviously very impressive."

The Next Stars program has been running in an official capacity since the 2018-19 season.