Is Andrei Kirilenko coming back to Brooklyn Nets?

Nothing's official, but Nets officials are optimistic that Andrei Kirilenko will not opt out of his player option and remain with the Nets through next year. Kirilenko has a player option on the second year of his two-year mini-MLE signed last summer in a big coup for Billy King and Dmitry Razumov.

Kirlenko has until June 29, a week from Sunday, to decide.

The 6'9" Kirilenko had a disappointing season last year, missing 37 games. In his 45 games, he averaged 5.0 points, 3.2 rebounds, 1.6 assists and just under one block in 19 minutes per game. It is expected that if Kirilenko does return he will play a larger role in the Nets' rotation, seeing more minutes, most likely coming off the bench.

If AK-47 does return, it would give a big boost to the Nets front court. Team insiders believe Kevin Garnett will also return rather than retire. With Brook Lopez optimistic about recovering from foot surgery and Mason Plumlee working on power forward skills, the team looks set up front whether Andray Blatche returns or not.