Brook Lopez is the Brooklyn Nets starting center and arguably their best player as of the moment. Now, in his ninth season in the NBA, the Nets are planning to put him on the bench because of injury issues. Lopez sat out in their game against the Milwaukee Bucks losing 110-108 on Saturday. The big man's latest NBA injury updates all revolve around his injury to his right foot.
With 73 games that he played as a starter in the 2015-2016 season,the 7-foot big man was productive and averaged 33.7 MPG, 20.6 PPG and 7.8 RPG. In this season's NBA injury updates, it seems that the Nets would want to keep his minutes low to keep him healthy as the season progresses, and a report by ESPN confirms that.
Kenny Atkinson, Brooklyn Nets head coach, expressed his sentiments in a report by the New York Post that he agrees with limiting Lopez' minutes. He said, "What we're trying to do with Brook is take the long-term approach, just build him up as the season goes on and increase his minutes. We have a plan in place."
After sitting out the game on Saturday against the Bucks, Lopez returned on Monday to face the Chicago Bulls playing 22 minutes and scoring 13 points. The Bulls won 118-88 and the 30-point deficit really shows the lack of minutes he played in the game.
Brook Lopez was drafted 10th overall by the Nets in the first round of the 2008 NBA draft along with his twin brother, who was drafted 15th overall. After a few years with the Nets, he had been prone to injuries on his right foot and has had three surgeries missing a lot of games in the '11-12 and '13-'14 NBA seasons.
Will the Nets put him on the Bench? As the season progresses, there will be a lot of NBA injury updates regarding Brook Lopez.
