How the NBL’s Next Stars Spend Eight Active Games

The Australian NBL season is still young, but with most teams playing eight or more games, this is a good opportunity to check out the performance of the next five stars this season: Rocco Zikarski, Alex Toohey, Izan Almanza, Karim Lopez. , Malik Lewis and draft-eligible but not the next star Ben Henshall.

Toohey is currently the best of the best. His three-point shooting has finally cooled off, which brings back harsh memories of how cold his shooting was last season, but he’s still averaging 10.2 points, 4.0 rebounds, 1.6 assists and 1.5 interceptions per game on 45/31/65 throws. splits. He is also involved in tough defensive matchups in most games and uses his strength and physicality to make an impact. Toohey started all eight games for the Kings, who went 5–3. If he can improve his 3-point and free throw percentages, he could be expected to end up in the late first round in 2025.

Rocco Zikarski was the most hyped next star of the season and still is, but his problems persist. He has two points in his last three games while averaging nearly 10 minutes per game. We’ve been Ziekarski’s biggest critics and while it’s justified, the Brisbane Bullets aren’t performing well overall. They won only two of their first six games and have lost by wide margins several times this season. Zikarsky’s acting was not up to the mark, as were those around him.

Izan Almansa is having his best game of the season against Toohey’s Sydney Kings. In 23 minutes, he scored 14 points and six rebounds on 6-of-7 shooting from the field. His strong performance earned the Perth Wildcats a much-needed 87-84 win. Almanza continues to be benched for the Wildcats, averaging 6.6 points and three rebounds per game in 16 minutes per game. The way he did it in a pivotal game against the Kings was his first exclamation point of the season.

Malik Lewis isn’t preparing for the hottest start in South East Melbourne Phoenix, but neither is the team. They managed to win only two of the first eight games, so similar to Zikarsky that it is difficult to fight him in an environment that is clearly not set up for success. Lewis is averaging 6.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 38 percent from deep and showing occasional defensive highlights. He recently had 12 points and six rebounds against the Illawarra Hawks.

Ben Henshall continues to be a mystery player on the Perth Wildcats bench. He’s averaging 6.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and three assists per game, but the game-to-game differences are a bit staggering. In their recent matchup with the Sydney Kings, he finished with two points on 0-of-10 shooting from the field, including 0-of-7 from behind the arc, but had eight assists and six rebounds. In the previous game against the New Zealand Breakers, he had 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-of-5 from deep, along with five turnovers. Like many players on the bench, his performance has been inconsistent from game to game.

Karim Lopez has just returned to action after spending a month on the sidelines with a minor wrist injury. The sample size isn’t large enough to comment on at this stage, and the injury also forced him to miss the Breakers’ preseason games against NBA teams, which was disappointing.

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