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The Brooklyn Nets are coming off a less than memorable 21-61 2016 season. They were hoping to rely on center Brook Lopez to turn things around for them in 2017, and they are paying him over $21 million this to do so. But it hasn’t worked out at all in 2017, as the Nets went into the All-Star break with a dismal 9-47 record.
Lopez may not be a player that comes to mind when NBA fans talk about the best players in basketball but Lopez’s stats and contracts would say otherwise. In the upcoming seasons, the Nets center will be making over an average of $21 million a year. That is incredible, considering that Lopez’s net worth was $14 million a year ago!
Brook Lopez Net Worth as of 2019: $30 million
Let’s look at how Lopez earned his worth, on and off the court.
2008
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With the 10th pick in the 2008 NBA Draft, the Brooklyn Nets drafted the center from Stanford University. Lopez’s brother Robin Lopez was drafted five picks later by the Phoenix Suns. A modest rookie season drew attention towards Lopez after scoring 13.0 points, 8.1 rebounds and 1.9 blocks per game. He ranked 9th in the NBA in blocks and led rookies in that category. Lopez came in third in Rookie of the Year voting and made the All-Rookie first team.
2009 – 2012
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After his rookie season, Lopez became a scoring threat for the Nets. With a delicate jump-shot and refined post moves, Lopez saw his stats rise. In the next three seasons, Lopez developed into the Nets star but that didn’t help the Nets overall. They struggled to make the playoffs but Lopez’s performances were leading him towards a big payday.
2013 – 2017
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In 2012, Lopez re-signed with the Nets to a four-year, $61 million contract. Lopez proved to the Nets that he was worth the big bucks by making it to the 2013 NBA-All Star Game. The Nets were finally able to make the playoffs under Lopez but lost to the Chicago Bulls in the first round of the playoffs.
Around this time, Lopez started missing games due to injury. He played in only 17 games in the 2013-2014 season due to a foot injury he suffered against the Philadelphia 76ers. After missing the first two games of the 2014-2015 season, Lopez played brilliantly in his return, scoring 18 points in just 24 minutes. Lopez went on to have a great season with averages of 20.8 points, 10.3 rebounds, and 2 blocks. After the season ended, Lopez opted out of his contract and re-signed with the Nets to a three-year/$63,497,025 contract.
Before the 2015-2016 season started, Lopez’s net worth was $14 million. During the season, Lopez made more than he had in his bank account. Now, Lopez is worth over $30 million and that will only increase because he is guaranteed $43 million over the 2016 and 2017 seasons.
2018
After an eight-game absence last year due to injury setbacks, Brook Lopez has already made a return to the starting line-up and hopes to have a stellar season from hereon.
2019
The season was going well for Brook Lopez until his match with Toronto which was a disappointment for the fans as he did not contribute much compared to his early performance.
