NBA

Nets’ Lopez also had left ankle surgery

Brook Lopez is healing from not just one surgery, but two.

Nets general manager Billy King said in addition to the initial surgery Lopez had in January to both repair the fractured fifth metatarsal in his right foot, as well as a second procedure on the foot, he also underwent a surgery on his left ankle on March 3. The second procedure Lopez had on his foot was a first metatarsal osteotomy — a measure designed to lessen the stress on the injured part of his foot.

As for the left ankle surgery, which tightened the lateral ankle ligaments and repaired a torn tendon, it was necessary after Lopez sprained that ankle twice before suffering his season-ending fracture of the fifth metatarsal in his right foot in Philadelphia on Dec. 20.

“It was when he sprained his ankle a couple times in a row,” King said before the Nets’ 114-98 win over the Celtics. “We knew he was going to try to gut it out through the season [after the left ankle sprains], but once the other one did, we didn’t want to do them both at the same time.”

King said Lopez was healing well from both surgeries, and that his timetable for returning to on-court activities remained early June.

The complicated procedure Lopez had on his right foot was similar to the one performed on former Cavaliers center Zyrdunas Ilgauskas early in his career. Ilgauskas went on to have a productive career post-surgery, and wound up getting his jersey retired earlier this month in Cleveland.

When King was asked if he was concerned about Lopez’s seemingly fragile feet — he has had three surgeries on his right foot and one on his left in the last two-and-a-half years — King pointed to Ilgauskas as a reason for optimism.

“I go back to a guy who just had his jersey retired [in] Ilgauskas,” King said. “People kept saying, ‘Will this guy ever be able to play?’ He ended up with his jersey retired in Cleveland.

“So I don’t [worry]. I think that, in talking to the doctor, this time they’ve got it right.”

It initially appeared the Nets would see their season go off the rails when Lopez went down, as a team already in trouble lost four of its final five games in December to go into 2014 with a 10-21 record.

But the Nets have turned their season around, in large part because of lineup changes the team enacted — namely inserting Shaun Livingston into the lineup at shooting guard while pushing Joe Johnson to small forward, Paul Pierce to power forward and Kevin Garnett to center — that wouldn’t have taken place if Lopez was still healthy.

Though it seems Lopez wouldn’t be a great fit in the style the Nets have adapted in his absence, King said that the Nets’ All-Star center would have been able to thrive in this system.

“I think he can fit in,” King said. “I think if you put Brook at the center and the other four guys around, I think you can play the same way. The last time we played Boston, when you go 4-for-30 [from 3-point range], it’s good to have a Brook Lopez who you can throw it to inside and get some easy buckets. I think he’ll fit in fine.”

Lopez met with the media last month, after undergoing a complicated surgery in early January that not only repaired the fractured fifth metatarsal Lopez suffered during the Nets’ overtime loss to the 76ers in Philadelphia on Dec. 20, but it also involved a second procedure – a first metatarsal osteotomy — that is designed to lessen the stress on the injured part of Lopez’s foot.

This was the third separate injury to the fifth metatarsal for Lopez, dating back to when he initially injured it in a preseason game at Madison Square Garden in December 2011 before the start of the lockout-shortened 2011-12 campaign, with Lopez re-injuring the foot in just his fifth game back that season at Charlotte in early March.

But Lopez bounced back to have his best season in 2012-13, averaging 19.4 points and 2.1 blocks per game while shooting 52 percent and making his first All-Star team. He looked on pace to make the midseason showcase for a second straight season when he got hurt, because he was averaging career-highs in both points per game (20.7) and field goal percentage (56.3).