NBA

This Nets big man is leaner and aiming for a bounce-back season

The Nets will be getting a visibly thinner Brook Lopez when training camp begins next month.

Lopez, who arrived at training camp last fall weighing around 290 pounds before playing at a weight several pounds lighter, looked noticeably thinner while participating in a youth healthy lifestyle clinic at Barclays Center on Wednesday afternoon.

“I’m at my playing weight,” Lopez said with a laugh. “I can attribute that to laying in bed for months, but I’m back to the weight that’s normal for me. Last I checked, I was just under 275 [pounds].”

The Nets center said last year’s bigger frame had nothing to do with the fractured fifth metatarsal he suffered in Philadelphia on Dec. 20.

“I may have been five pounds heavier, but that’s not what injured me,” he said.

Nevertheless, it’s hard to believe the two aren’t at least partially related.

Even if Lopez is a few pounds lighter, there’s no reason to believe he should have any trouble moving around players in the low block as he has while developing into arguably the best-scoring big man in the NBA.

That skill set should mesh nicely with what his new coach, Lionel Hollins, likely will try to do with the Nets after having plenty of success leaning on a pair of talented big men, Marc Gasol and Zach Randolph, during his tenure with the Grizzlies.

“I love what he did in Memphis,” Lopez said. “He had some great teams out there, and my high school teammate Quincy [Pondexter] played for him, and learned a lot under him, and grew as a player. So I hope to do the same.”

Lopez has spent the last eight months recovering from early January surgery to fix the fractured bone — an injury he previously had to deal with — and reposition another bone in order to more properly distribute his weight across his foot.

Lopez took the next step in his recovery last week, when he was cleared to begin running, and was excited to see the rehab process continue.

It’s not often an NBA player gets excited about running. Then again, it’s not often a player has had the last eight months off.

“It was great,” Lopez said. “I was exhausted, but it felt good, and it continues to get [easier].… I feel like I’m in better shape, but the trainers are still pushing me, as well. “I feel like I still have to get more power under my legs in general. I’m not worried about my feet. It’s getting the power back in my lower legs I lost when I had to lie around .”