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All signs keep pointing toward return for Brook Lopez, Thaddeus Young

By Net Income
Jim McIsaac/Getty Images

Despite all the sturm and drang of a season that saw Brook Lopez come off the bench at times and seemingly be ignored in the fourth quarter at others, Brook Lopez appears likely to return to the Nets, the New York Post and ESPN report. The same appears to be true for Thaddeus Young.

Picking up on Adrian Wojnarowski's similar report last week, the Post's Fred Kerber and ESPN's Marc Stein and Mike Mazzeo quote NBA executives saying it was always likely.

"That was the word around the league for the longest time, that he wasn’t leaving," an opposing executive told Kerber. "They want him back and frankly, I don’t see how they could lose him."

Marc Stein and Mike Mazzeo reported the same basic story Monday afternoon and suggested the deals could be done very early after the midnight Wednesday opening of free agency.

Rival teams interested in Brooklyn Nets free agents Brook Lopez and Thaddeus Young are increasingly convinced that they have no shot at luring either one away from the incumbent Nets, according to league sources.

Sources told ESPN.com that both Lopez and Young are widely expected to reach verbal agreements on new deals with the Nets early in free agency, which officially begins Wednesday at midnight.

Woj, Kerber, Stein and Mazzeo all report the deal for Lopez is around $60 million over three years -- along with "some protections in the deal against any recurrence of the foot issues that plagued Lopez in the past" Similarly, the number for Young is around $48 million over four. At the end of their contracts, the two will be 30 and 31 years old.

Why would Lopez return when the Nets have tried to trade him at virtually every deadline since he's been a Net? "Lopez craves stability and hates change," writes Kerber.

Beyond the reports that the two are returning, there was this tweet from Shekinah Young this weekend.


The Nets have two other free agents out there: Mirza Teletovic who is a restricted free agent, meaning the Nets can match any offer he received, and Alan Anderson who said in May that he was opting out of his $1.3 million contract next year, but there's been no announcement that he actually has taken the step. His deadline for opting out is believed to be Monday.

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