NEW YORK — The best center in the NBA, statistically at least, is going to the All-Star Game after all.
Brook Lopez was chosen Wednesday by commissioner David Stern to replace the injured Rajon Rondo in the league’s showcase event on Feb. 17. The news came just hours before Lopez and the Nets were set to play the Eastern Conference-leading Miami Heat at the Barclays Center.
Lopez is averaging 18.6 points and shooting 52.3 percent from the field for Brooklyn, which currently sits in fourth place in the Eastern Conference and is ranked ninth in the latest edition of Mark Heisler’s NBA Power Rankings, which ran on this site earlier today.
He also is averaging a career-high 2.18 blocks per game, ranking him fourth in the NBA behind Larry Sanders of Milwaukee, Roy Hibbert of Indiana and Dwight Howard of the Los Angeles Lakers.