After immigrating to the U.S. from the Dominican Republic in 1989, Felipe Lopez quickly rose to prominence in New York City’s basketball scene.
Lopez became the best high school basketball player in the city and one of the best in the country, even gracing the cover of Sports Illustrated. He then attended St. John’s University in Queens, New York for four years before being drafted No. 24 in the 1998 NBA draft.
Lopez’s NBA career never quite panned out. He lasted just four seasons with the Vancouver Grizzlies (now Memphis Grizzlies), Washington Wizards and Minnesota Timberwolves before venturing overseas.
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'; }); pollOptions.innerHTML = pollOptionsDom; pollCount.innerHTML = totalVotes + ' votes'; if (totalVotes > 10) { pollCount.classList.remove("hidden"); } } function trackBetsTodayPollImpression() { var intersectionObserverForArticlePoll = new IntersectionObserver( function(entries) { entries.forEach(function(entry) { var pollId = entry.target.getAttribute("data-poll-id"); if (POLLS_BY_ID[pollId]['impression_tracked']) return; if (!entry.target || !entry.isIntersecting || entry.intersectionRatio < 0.5) return; setTimeout(function() { if (isInViewport(entry.target)) { POLLS_BY_ID[pollId]['impression_tracked'] = true; var isDesktop = "1"; var gaPayload = { "question" : POLLS_BY_ID[pollId]['question'], "category": "Basketball", "page_url": window.location.href, "option1": POLLS_BY_ID[pollId]['option1'], "option2": POLLS_BY_ID[pollId]['option2'], } if (isDesktop) { gaPayload["device"] = "Desktop"; } else { gaPayload["device"] = "Mobile"; } gtag("event", "BETS_TODAY_POLL_IMPRESSION", gaPayload); intersectionObserverForArticlePoll.unobserve(entry.target); } }, 1000); }); }, { threshold: 0.5 } ); var pollElements = document.querySelectorAll('.bets-today-poll'); pollElements.forEach(function(pollElement) { var isAnswered = pollElement.querySelector(".poll-option-answered"); if (!isAnswered) { intersectionObserverForArticlePoll.observe(pollElement); } }) } return { answerPollX: answerPollX, }; }();However, he has still done quite well for himself and has inspired many fellow immigrants looking to achieve the American dream.
According to most outlets, Felipe Lopez’s net worth is estimated to be between $1 million and $5 million. This includes the $2.6 million he earned over his NBA career as well as endorsements and his overseas earnings in Europe and the Dominican Republic. He also worked as a Spanish-language sports broadcaster.
Outside of his playing career, Lopez is most known for his effort to develop basketball in his home country. He also had an ESPN 30 for 30 documentary made about him in 2019 titled “The Dominican Dream,” which told his life story.
The documentary is described as follows:
“In the early 1990s, the future of basketball belonged to a young Dominican immigrant named Felipe Lopez. Featured on the cover of Sports Illustrated at the age of 17, Lopez's story is the ultimate profile of the American dream.”Jonathan Hock on Felipe Lopez’s inspirational life story
Despite being considered an NBA draft bust, Felipe Lopez has still served as an inspiration to many from both the Dominican Republic and New York City. According to director and producer Jonathan Hock, who directed "The Dominican Dream," that is the most important part of Lopez's story.
During an interview in 2019, Hock spoke about how Lopez’s success as an immigrant should not be overshadowed by his brief NBA career.
“I said, you know what, if we could tell the story about Felipe Lopez as an immigrant story, not as a basketball story, well now it’s a totally different thing,” he said. “Now it’s like, ‘What does success mean?’ Today, where success is measured by dollar signs, fame, how many likes, how many followers you have or whatever, what does it mean for an immigrant to have success here? For an immigrant family to be successful? Felipe is the model of the successful immigrant.”He added that Lopez did everything he could to achieve success upon immigrating to the U.S. and should not be considered a failure by anyone.
“Felipe never said what he was gonna become,” Hock said. “Felipe just came, worked hard and made it to the NBA after coming here at age 13 not speaking a word of English. That to me is a success story masquerading as a disappointment story. I’m hoping people will look at this and say, ‘Wow, who is going to call this a failure?’”Quick Links
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