HoopsHype.com Rumors

Chris Mannix: New Jersey is penciling Brook Lopez in at between $8 and $10 mill per year. Hibbert is going to get a lot more. Twitter

Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Free Agency, Roy Hibbert, Brook Lopez 

Chris Mannix: New Jersey is penciling Brook Lopez in at between $8 and $10 mill per year. Hibbert is going to get a lot more. Twitter

Indiana Pacers, Brooklyn Nets, Free Agency, Roy Hibbert, Brook Lopez 

Addressing reporters, GM Billy King confirmed that Lopez got a check-up on May 16 and said he's "making good progress" in his recovery. He still expects the team's starting center to be 100 percent healthy come training camp. "[The doctors] said everything's progressing nicely," King said. "He's on track. He's doing everything -- just no running and jumping at this point. It's good to see Brook shooting." ESPN.com

Brooklyn Nets, Injuries, Brook Lopez 

Tim Bontemps: Nets GM Billy King said Brook Lopez is on schedule, and that meeting with doctors May 16 went well. Twitter

Brooklyn Nets, Billy King, Injuries, Brook Lopez 

Andy Vasquez: No running or jumping yet for Brook Lopez, according to Billy King. #nets Twitter

Brooklyn Nets, Billy King, Injuries, Brook Lopez 

Restricted center Brook Lopez, coming off a broken right foot and additional foot injury, wants to stay. If the pursuit of Dwight Howard, recovering from back surgery, fizzles, the Nets could do far worse than having Lopez with Williams running the show. Remember, the two have played just 17 games together. New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Trade, Dwight Howard, Brook Lopez 

Hello, Brooklyn! At midnight, the Nets officially ended their 35 years in New Jersey and became the Brooklyn Nets, finally completing a move that has been several years in the making. “It’s very exciting to be moving on and heading to [Brooklyn],” said Brook Lopez, who will be among those on hand when the team officially unveils its new color scheme and logos this morning at an event near its new home, the Barclays Center. “I’m very anxious. ... I’d love to get it started right now. “I think it’s something that’s going to have a ton of new energy, great energy, and something many people are going to want to be a part of.” New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Brook Lopez 

Andy Vasquez: Brook Lopez made it very clear that he wants to stay with Nets. Said he hopes to be back on the basketball court within a month. Twitter

Brooklyn Nets, Brook Lopez 

“Brook will not play for the rest of this year,” general manager Billy King said. “He is healing nicely but with 10 games to go and him being a free agent and looking for the future, we’ll sit him down for the rest of this year. At this point in time, we are really not on the cusp of making the playoffs. “By the end of the season he should be pretty healed. At the end of the season, we’ll do a CT scan.” New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Injuries, Brook Lopez 

“It was a collective effort,” King said. “I talked to [agent] Arn Tellem in L.A. and we decided I didn’t want to make the decision for Brook because of him being a free agent,” King said. “But everybody thought it best for [him] not to risk anything the rest of this year. “He understands that the future is more important. He’d like to play. But he knows there is a lot more basketball down the road,” said King, who envisions a solid future — whether it’s Howard or Lopez in the middle. “We’re headed in the right direction,” King said enthusiastically. New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Injuries, Brook Lopez 

Ryan Anderson (restricted) is the other top power forward available - and would certainly be a welcomed upgrade -- but the Nets want a stronger rebounder to play alongside Brook Lopez. New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Free Agency, Brook Lopez, Ryan Anderson 

Fred Kerber reports Saturday that the "very, very small line" found in Brook Lopez's CT scan three days ago was not the result of his original break on December 21, but instead a by-product of his ankle sprain on March 4. Additional tests on the Nets center, who has missed all but five games this season, found a small line or crack resulting from the ankle sprain he endured after coming back from a broken foot. NetsDaily

Brooklyn Nets, Injuries, Brook Lopez 

New Jersey Nets center Brook Lopez will miss two more weeks and then be reevaluated, the team announced Friday. Nets general manager Billy King told reporters in Atlanta that a CT scan revealed a small "line" in Lopez's fractured right foot, which was not previously discovered. The 23-year-old missed the first 32 games of the season and 33 of the first 34 after fracturing the fifth metatarsal bone in his right foot during the Nets' final preseason game on Dec. 21 in New York. ESPN.com

Brooklyn Nets, Injuries, Brook Lopez 

Whatever happened, Magic management evidently refused to buy Howard’s abrupt back flip until he signed a document opting in. That’s why, Thursday at noon, three hours before the deadline, Smith and Nets GM Billy King were real close to firming up a trade. No other team was involved. It would’ve been Brook Lopez, MarShon Brooks, Mehmet Okur’s expiring contract and two or three (lottery- unprotected; at least in one case) No. 1 picks for Howard. New York Post

Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Trade, Dwight Howard, Billy King, Mehmet Okur, Brook Lopez, Marshon Brooks 

But Nets coach Avery Johnson said Lopez – who is out with a sprained ankle until at least Friday – isn’t holding a grudge. The relationship will be tested when Lopez becomes a restricted free agent this summer. “I think it’s already been mended," Johnson said. "If your name is mentioned in trade rumors, we tell our guys, ‘Look at it as not so much an insult, but a blessing that other teams want you,’ It’s part of the nature of this business. It’s Billy’s job and ownership’s job and my job to continue to improve this product from where it was June 10th of 2010. “We’re not there yet. It’s just part of the process. It’s not really an insult. I think if you take it as an insult, if you’re a big guy, then whenever you’re out on the floor, then get 15 rebounds and protect the paint and dunk on people.” New York Daily News

Brooklyn Nets, Trade, Brook Lopez 

Fred Kerber: #Nets Brook Lopez on getting past last Thursday's trading deadline: "I made it. Yeaaaaaaa!" Twitter

Brooklyn Nets, Trade, Brook Lopez 

Following Milwaukee's acquisition of Monta Ellis, the Nets offered a trade of Brook Lopez, according to Ric Bucher while on KNBR Radio. The Bucks turned down that trade and decided to keep Ellis. Ellis is known to be a player Dwight Howard wants to play with. RealGM

Golden State Warriors, Milwaukee Bucks, Trade, Monta Ellis, Brook Lopez 

The New Jersey Nets' offer. Smith has told associates for months that he doesn't see center Brook Lopez as a worthy centerpiece of a deal for Howard, meaning Nets general manager Billy King would need to find a three- or four-team deal to land him. But Lopez -- who is out for three weeks, and perhaps longer, with an ankle injury -- remained in the discussion nonetheless, presumably because King's view was not shared. SI.com

Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Trade, Dwight Howard, Brook Lopez 

Speaking to reporters a day after the Nets announced that center Brook Lopez would miss the next three weeks with a sprained right ankle, Nets general manager Billy King said he still intends to be active at the March 15 trade deadline. Lopez, of course, is the centerpiece of King’s efforts to trade for Orlando’s Dwight Howard. “I know the speculation is, ‘What do we do now?’?’’ King said before the Nets, minus Lopez, were blown out by the Miami Heat, 108-78, last night at American Airlines Arena. “But we’ve got a good young center (in Lopez); we’ve got a great point guard (Deron Williams). There’s other things I’ll look to do. “We have flexibility cap-wise,’’ King continued. “But at the end of the day, I want a healthy Brook Lopez and (don’t want to) worry about making trades at this point in regards of moving Brook Lopez. It’s about trying to add to this team.’’ Newark Star-Ledger

Brooklyn Nets, Orlando Magic, Trade, Dwight Howard, Brook Lopez 

King said the Nets considered shutting Lopez down for the rest of the season before settling on the idea of keeping him out three weeks. “My main concern was him,’’ King said of Lopez. “We’ve got a young player, 23, and we’re going to make a decision, ‘Do we keep him out the rest of the year?’ Because I think it’s important for us to have a healthy Brook Lopez. And he’s not going to be out for the rest of the year, but at three weeks, if he still has a little soreness in the ankle, we’re going to hold him out. We want him as healthy as possible.’’ Newark Star-Ledger

Brooklyn Nets, Trade, Brook Lopez