Nets" Season Takes Another Hit With Injury to Lopez The reeling Nets were dealt another huge injury blow as the All-Star center Brook Lopez was found to have a broken fifth metatarsal in his right foot, the team announced Saturday. Brook Lopez's injury occurred Friday night during the Nets" 121-120 overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers. The Nets said a timetable for his return would be better known after a consultation next week with team physicians. But the same injury forced Lopez to miss, essentially, the entire lockout-shortened, 2011-12 season. The Nets will now be without the player they singled out as their main scoring option, the player whose presence they try to establish each game before expanding their offense. Lopez, 25, played 17 games this year and was averaging 20.7 points, 6.0 rebounds and 1.8 blocks per game. The injury occurred Friday night during the Nets" 121-120 overtime loss to the Philadelphia 76ers, a result that dropped their record to 9-17. Lopez played the entire game, scoring 22 points in just over 44 minutes. For Lopez, a 7-foot center, the injury extends a worrying history of foot and ankle problems. He has already missed nine games this season after spraining his left ankle on two separate occasions. He first fractured the bone in Dec. 2011. The injury required a screw and he needed a second surgery on the foot after that season concluded. This past summer he had a procedure in which the screw was replaced. This latest injury could require a fourth surgery, slowing a blossoming career. Lopez averaged 19.4 points and 6.9 rebounds per game last season and was selected to his first All-Star Team. And for the Nets, it is another devastating development. After starting the season with championship aspirations, poor play and poor health have combined to spell a hugely disappointing first third of the season. Without Lopez, it will be harder still to turn things around.