Brook Lopez Trade Rumors Tracker: Latest Updates on New Jersey Nets Star

Who wants a fragile center that isn’t a very good rebounder???

The New Jersey Nets were hoping that Brook Lopez was going to have an outstanding season, one good enough to entice the Orlando Magic into feeling comfortable on their return in a trade for Dwight Howard.

The plan was quickly placed on the back burner when he broke his foot right before the season began, causing him to miss the first 32 games of the season. Now Lopez has sprained his ankle a mere five games after making his return. The injury will take three weeks to heal, once again putting the Nets behind the eight-ball.

The Nets were one of three teams with the L.A. Lakers and Dallas Mavericks that were on Howard’s “wish list” and Magic GM Otis Smith recently told the Orlando Sentinel that “6 to 8 teams” are still pursuing the two-time defending Defensive Player of the Year as a rental for the rest of the season.

Obviously Smith is concerned with his own team and shouldn’t care what Howard wants. A quick glance of the Nets roster makes you believe Smith would be a lunatic to want anybody on a 12-26 team.

Not quite the case, according to Fred Kerber of the New York Post:

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The Nets, then, remain the one team with the most of what Orlando needs: assets. The Nets have players, draft picks, and salary cap space. You can’t be this bad this long and not have something going for you.

"

Any trade for Howard would involve Lopez in addition to multiple picks.

The 23-year-old Lopez averaged 20.4 points and 5.9 rebounds while playing all 82 games last year. In five games this season, he put up 19 points and 3.6 rebounds.

The Magic weren’t the only team in discussions for Lopez. There were reports that a potential Lopez-for-Monta Ellis deal was in the works, but Yahoo! Sports' Adrian Wojnarowski shot that down last week:

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Nets have no interest in trading Brook Lopez for a Monta Ellis package, league source tells Y!

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) February 29, 2012"

Golden State wanted more than a center who is one of the worst rebounders in the league when you consider his size (7’0’’) and playing time (averaged 34.1 minutes in his career).

Conclusion:

While Lopez couldn’t even play for Orlando right off the bat in a potential trade, the opportunity is still there. Believe it or not, Lopez never missed a single game in his first three seasons before this year. A sprained ankle will certainly fully heal and the long-term prospects of a lingering injury are not there.

The Magic know if they decide to keep Howard until the end of the season, he could walk for nothing. They also know he would receive a less lucrative contract.

It’s a constant tug-of-war battle that has placed Lopez right in the middle.

The dream scenario for the Nets is to hold off until the summer and sign Howard, re-sign Deron Williams and slide Lopez over to power forward.

Now that would be a dangerous team.

As for Lopez, it seems as if the Nets consider his value to be higher than almost every other team, so it’s either Orlando or bust. 

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