Brook Lopez Injury: Broken Foot Will Require Surgery for Nets Big Man

The New Jersey Nets' season has taken a serious hit before even beginning, as Brook Lopez will miss time with a broken foot.

Al Iannazzone is reporting via Twitter that Lopez will undergo surgery for a broken foot on Friday.

Ken Berger of CBS Sports confirmed that via Twitter, calling it a hairline fracture.

While it's unknown how many games Lopez will miss, this is certainly going to have him sidelined for an extended period of time.

This is a crushing blow to New Jersey for multiple reasons. The most obvious is what Lopez brings to the table. 

Lopez has been in the league for three seasons, and his points-per-game output has increased every year. A season ago, he averaged better than 20 points a night. He was also good for 1.5 blocks and nearly six rebounds. 

That kind of production is not easily replaced. And that's not even the worst thing for the Nets. 

According to Colin Stephenson of the Newark Star-Ledger, before the Magic pulled Dwight Howard off of the the trading block, Lopez was rumored to be the centerpiece of a deal that would have brought Howard to the Nets. 

It's hard to imagine foot surgery on a big man doing much for Lopez's trade value. Centers have a terrible history of having foot problems significantly hurt their entire career. If the Magic were interested in Lopez before, logic would say that his value has gone down.

If the Nets are going to pursue an in-season trade for Howard, you would have to think that they will be asking for more. It's hard to speculate on that now because, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of Yahoo Sports, Howard was taken off the market more than a week ago, but these are the kind of things that have a tendency to persist through the season.

Now, if this does persist, the Magic are going to be looking at a player that's either injured or coming off of an injury.

Whether Lopez fits in to their long-term plans or not, this news is devastating to the Nets and, of course, to Lopez.

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