Brooklyn Nets Will Not Restrict Brook Lopez’s Minutes
By Hayden Kane
Brook Lopez will not have restricted minutes when he returns for the Brooklyn Nets as the start of the 2014-2015 NBA season approaches.
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The regular season hasn’t even started, and already Brooklyn Nets have received bad news about injury-prone center Brook Lopez. Worse yet, it is another injury to his right foot that has Lopez out of the lineup this preseason.
Granted, the news is not as bad as it could have been for Lopez. The Nets initially feared that it was a fracture, but Lopez was diagnosed with a “mild right midfoot sprain” this week. The injury will keep him out 10 to 14 days and might force the big center to miss the team’s season-opening game on October 29th, but beyond that, the Nets plan to dispatch him at full strength when he returns.
From Lenn Robbins.
#nets GM Billy King says he's optimistic about Brook Lopez's mild mid foot sprain. King says the Nets will not restrict his minutes
— Lenn Robbins (@LennRobbins) October 17, 2014
Lopez played in just 17 games last season before a season-ending injury cut his campaign short. In acknowledging that Lopez might miss the season opener, King also discussed the fact that the Nets will focus on his long-term availability. From ESPN.com:
"“It’s not about the opener, it’s an 82-game season,” King said. “So if he misses the opener, he has 81 [games to play]. And if he misses the next one, he has 80, so it’s not about the opener. It’s a long season.”"
Lopez can be a difference maker in the Eastern Conference if he does play a good chunk of the season. Skepticism about his ability to do so is understandable at this point, but the Nets will hope that he can buck that trend.
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