NBA trade rumors: Nets might part ways with Lopez

If rumors are to be believed, the Brooklyn Nets may be shipping out one of their best players in the middle of the season.

Not much is expected of the Nets coming into the 2016-17 season, as they are believed to be a team in transition. However, they still had a few pieces in the team led by center Brook Lopez.

Lopez is on his ninth season in the league and averages around 18.3 points, 7.4 rebounds and 1.7 blocks per game.

He has made the All-Star game once in his career, back in the 2012-13 season and is considered the best player in the Nets at the moment.

Brooklyn added a few pieces around him this year, with Jeremy Lin as the biggest name to be included on the list.

However, that has not translated well so far. To start the season, the Nets lost their season opener against the Boston Celtics.

In the 122-117 loss, it was surprising that Lin was not the one who struggled with his new team. Lin scored 18 points in the game.

It was Lopez who actually could not find his footing in the contest and finished the game shooting 1-of-7 to end the night with only seven points and five rebounds.

With that, ESPN reported that Lopez might be on borrowed time with the Nets if things do not improve in the season.

Lopez is still young at 28 years old and may have a lot of teams tempted to make offers for him. Adding the center to the line-up will strengthen a contender and the Nets might use that to get picks and young players as they go through the rebuild.

Lopez is set to earn around $21.2 million this year and losing that will help create space for the future picks and players that the Nets may eye.

Expect more on this in the future as the Nets go through the season.