Brook Lopez: New Jersey Nets Say Center Will Miss Rest of the Season
The New Jersey Nets made the hard but correct call when they decided to call off any hope that Brook Lopez would feature in this season.
As reported by The Star-Ledger's Colin Stephenson, Lopez was sidelined with a broken bone in his right foot and missed a good portion of the season. Upon his return, he injured his ankle, only to find that the bone had been re-injured.
In total, the center has played five games in what has been a tumultuous season for him and his club.
The general manager made the call on Thursday and did so with the advice of Lopez's agent Arn Tellem.
King's main worry was forcing a young player to play on an injury that's still healing despite the Nets being out of any playoff race.
The fact that Lopez is a free agent heading into the summer was also weighed heavily. Here is what King had to say on the matter:
""He's healing nicely, but with 10 games to go, and him being a free agent and looking at the future, we decided to shut him down for the rest of the year.''
"I didn’t want to make the decision for Brook, because (of) him being a (restricted) free agent,'' King said. "But everybody thought it was best, you have a young center, to not risk anything the rest of this year.''
"We’re not really, on the cusp of making the playoffs,'' King said. "It’s looking on what’s the best for players and their interests.''
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He did go on to say that if the Nets were in the playoff hunt, he would have evaluated the situation differently.
The Nets are currently 19-37 and have lost two straight. Their most recent was a double-digit loss coming against the Blazers in Portland.
There was no other call for the Nets, who are only playing for pride at this point and would hardly need to force the issue with a player who was clearly not ready to come back in February.
The focus is now on finishing up the season and heading into what will be a volatile offseason wherein they hope to wrap up their big man and answer the biggest question on everybody's mind in Deron Williams.
Lopez is coming off a season in which he averaged 20.4 points per game. There's tremendous hope that, when healthy, he can continue to mature into one of the best centers in the East.
