Bondy: Brook Lopez has opted out of his contract

Stefan Bondy of the New York Daily News has reported that Brook Lopez has opted out of his contract for the 2015-2016 season.

Source: Brook Lopez has opted out of his contract.

— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) June 26, 2015

However, sources tell Yahoo! Sports that the Nets are still likely to have the big fella for the 2015-2016 campaign.

After Brook Lopez opted out of contract today, the Nets remain a strong frontrunner to re-sign him, league sources tell Yahoo Sports.

— Adrian Wojnarowski (@WojYahooNBA) June 26, 2015

If Lopez did opt-in with the Nets for the season, he would've made $17 million for the year and then could've looked for a luxurious deal next offseason when the TV deal hits. However, with him opting out, he could sign a long-term deal with the Nets or another team to secure a future after three major surgeries on his foot.

The Nets have expressed their desire to re-sign Lopez.

"I do know they both want to be here and we want them here," King said in the end-of-season press conference.

"He's a guy that carried us," King said. "Without Brook Lopez, there's no way we get to where we got to this year. ...Teams are double-teaming him, they're game-planning how to stop him. And so, to me, when you have a guy who could average 20 [points] and rebound the basketball to get a double-double, there's not a lot of guys in the league that can do that."

Mikhail Prokhorov agreed.

"As [Lionel] Hollins told you 20 times, we want him back. We need him and think Brooklyn is his home."

The Nets are likely to offer Lopez the max, but it's unsure of how long they'll lock him up for. Billy King, as mentioned, has made it clear that he needs to get Thaddeus Young & Lopez back. Some beats have been doing the math of what to expect in terms of numbers, IF the two re-sign.

#Nets have $61 million committed to Johnson/Williams/Jack/Bojan/Blake/Karasev/Jefferson/Brown

— Mike Mazzeo (@MazzESPN) June 26, 2015

That doesn't include possible $33-35 million or so Lopez/Young could make plus $4.2 million QO on Teletovic and possible mini MLE usage.

— Mike Mazzeo (@MazzESPN) June 26, 2015

Thaddeus Young made a little over $9 million in the 2014-2015 season where he averaged 14.1 points and 5.4 rebounds per game. The Nets will need to up the ante in order to lure the southpaw back.

A projection I've heard for Thaddeus Young's upcoming contract is over $11 million per year. We might see a $100 million payroll in BK again

— Stefan Bondy (@SBondyNYDN) June 26, 2015