“Brook Lopez experienced right foot soreness after being stepped on during the pre-season game against the Kings Wednesday night,” team doctor Riley Williams III said in a prepared statement. “X-ray and CT scan studies done Thursday in New York reveal no fractures or bone injuries. Brook has been diagnosed with a mild midfoot sprain and is likely to be out for approximately 10-14 days.”
Lopez first injured the foot in 2011, breaking the fifth metatarsal on his right foot, requiring surgery. He later required a surgery to replace a screw inserted in the first surgery after it had bent in his foot, and underwent a third surgery in January to fix an additional break to the bone, as well as to realign the foot in the hopes that it would lessen pressure on the bone.
Though any injury to Lopez’s foot is going to cause serious concern, the location of the injury within the foot is a positive. The injury is said to be in the middle of the foot, rather than at the fifth metatarsal bone, which runs along the outer edge of the foot. But any injury to a foot weakened by bone breaks and multiple surgeries is a compounding worry.
After playing in all 246 regular season games over his first three seasons, Lopez has missed 134 games in his last three, playing in just five games in the lockout-shortened 2011-12 season and 17 last season, missing most of the time due to his right foot injuries.
Nets general manager Billy King will speak with the media regarding Lopez’s foot Friday morning.
