The Australian NBL season is still young, but with most teams playing eight games or more, we’re in a good place to check out this season’s five Next Stars: Rocco Zikarsky, Alex Toohey, Izan Almansa, Karim Lopez, Malique Lewis and Ben Henshall, eligible but not a Next Star.

Toohey is the cream of the crop right now. His three-point shooting has finally gone cold, 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 steals per game on 45/31/65 shooting. cleave He also makes tough defensive tackles in most games and uses his strength and physicality to make an impact. Toohey has started all eight games for the Kings and they are 5-3. If he can increase his three-point and free-throw percentages, he could be looking at a late first-round pick in 2025.

Rocco Zikarsky was the most hyped Next Star coming into the season and still is, but his struggles persisted. He has scored two points in the past three games, averaging nearly 10 minutes per game. I was leading critics of Zikarsky and although this has been guaranteed, the Brisbane Bullets as a whole are not performing well. They have won just two of their first six games and have found themselves with wide margins several times this season. Zikarsky’s game wasn’t up to par, but neither was his environment.

Izan Almansa is coming off his best game of the season against Toohey’s Sydney Kings. In 23 minutes, he finished with 14 points and six rebounds on six-of-seven shooting from the field. Perth Wildcats got a much needed 87-84 win thanks to his strong performance. Almansa continues to be a useful bench presence for the Wildcats, averaging 6.6 points and three rebounds per game in 16 minutes per game. Stepping up, as he did in this key game against the Kings, was his first exclamation point game of the season.

Malique Lewis isn’t off to the best of starts for the South East Melbourne Phoenix, but neither is the team. They managed to win just two of the first eight matches so similar to Zikarsky that it is difficult to fight against him in an environment that is clearly not ready for success. Lewis is averaging 6.6 points and 3.7 rebounds per game while shooting 38 percent from deep and putting up the occasional defensive highlight. He recently had a solid 12-point, six-rebound performance against the Illawarra Hawks.

Ben Henshall continues to be a staggering quantity for the Perth Wildcats. He is averaging 6.8 points, 3.7 rebounds and three assists per game, but the difference from game to game is somewhat 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 beyond the arc, but had eight assists and six rebounds. In the game before that against the New Zealand Breakers, 13 points on 5-of-8 shooting and 2-of-5 from deep, but also five turnovers. Like many bench players, his production from game to game is spotty.

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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