Nets Brook Lopez Named Player of the Week for the Second Consecutive Time

The Brooklyn Nets have a real shot at making it to the playoffs this year and it is mainly due to Brook Lopez's stellar performance over the past 14 games. Lopez's dominance on the court has not gone unnoticed. He was named the Eastern Player of the Week for the second consecutive week in a row, which is a season first.

The official statement read:

"Lopez led the Nets to a 3-1 week behind team-leading averages of 20.8 points (sixth in the conference), 10.3 rebounds (fourth in the conference) and 2.0 blocks (tied-fifth in the conference). Lopez shot better than 50 percent in all four contests, and ranked seventh in the East for the week with a field goal percentage of 59.4. He recorded two point-rebound double-doubles, including a 30-point, 17-rebound outing during a 114-109 win over the Toronto Raptors on April 3."

"I think the ball has been moving really freely the past number of games," Lopez, who got off to a much slower start at the beginning of the season, explained. "You can see everyone's really comfortable on the court, and we've been gelling and playing well together."

The Nets were 11-3 in the past 14 games and currently sit in seventh in the Eastern Conference standings. Since the beginning of March, Lopez has recorded six 30-point games. During that time span, only two other players, Russell Westbrook (10) and James Harden (9), had more.

Although Lopez's late surge is good for the Nets, who want to make it to the playoffs, it can also hurt them in the long term.

Fred Katz with Bleacher Report wrote:

"Lopez's revival creates a potentially difficult scenario for Brooklyn. The just-turned-27-year-old can choose to hit free agency if he declines his $16.7 million player option for 2015-16. If he does, and the Nets feel like they have to re-sign him, it further injures the long-term flexibility of a franchise that has a rigid future to start.

Popular opinion, though, seems to be swaying against that idea, promoting that the Nets center will pick up his option, take more money than he could get annually on the open market this summer, stick around Brooklyn for another season and hit free agency in 2016 when he can take advantage of a rising salary cap and another (hopefully) healthy season."

The Nets (36-41) will host the Atlanta Hawks (57-19) Wednesday at 7:30 p.m. ET.