For everyone that was wondering where Brook Lopez has been and when he will return to the Milwaukee Bucks lineup, there’s been another update and it isn’t necessarily a positive one.
The team announced that the 33-year-old underwent successful back surgery in Los Angeles. He is out indefinitely and updates for his rehab will come as needed. The news comes after Lopez has missed all but one game this season with what the team originally called “back soreness” but has progressed to the point where he needed a procedure done.
The last update we received was from Lopez himself a few weeks ago, who was much more optimistic in his progress at the time. He said he had a target date in mind after ramping up his on-court basketball activities, but things must not have progressed enough and they believed surgery was the best option.
Reactions to Milwaukee Bucks announcing Brook Lopez underwent back surgery
I’ll clarify all of this by saying I have no medical expertise and all of this is simply speculation and guesswork based on other back injuries and surgeries.
The good news for the Bucks and Lopez is that they’re doing this in early December and there’s plenty of time for him to rehab and be ready to go for the playoffs. If we look at a player like Serge Ibaka of the Los Angeles Clippers (without knowing how severe the injury is for Lopez compared to the pinched nerve that Ibaka was dealing with), he underwent surgery on June 11th and is now back playing for the Clippers after missing 14 of the first 16 games for LA.
Ibaka dealt with a back issue that forced him to start missing games in mid-March last season and wasn’t addressed until after he tried to play through it late in the season and early in the playoffs. It was clear that Ibaka wasn’t healthy and needed some sort of procedure done. The Bucks didn’t wait and try to force Lopez back, they’re doing the right thing in having the surgery done now.
The bad news is that they’ll be without a very key member to their rotation and starting lineup for a significant amount of time and that their thin frontcourt will remain thin for an undetermined period.
Yes, they signed DeMarcus Cousins (which sounded alarm bells for many about the status of Lopez’s back) and he played well in his first game, but no one can expect him to replicate what Lopez does for the Bucks, being at the center (no pun intended) of their defense.
The other concern is how this could affect Lopez long-term given his age and the number of minutes he’s played in his career. Ibaka is nearly two years younger than Lopez and is slowly rounding into form for the Clippers now that he’s back.
Lopez and Ibaka are both rim protectors who can shoot the 3 but do some things differently. Lopez has never been a player to rely on athleticism but it could still limit his mobility (which can already be limited at times).
No matter when Lopez returns and how he looks, this puts even greater importance on Bobby Portis and how he fits with Giannis Antetokounmpo this season and beyond.
We wish Lopez well in his rehab and hopefully, this surgery puts the back issue behind him. Back issues are no joke and when surgery is required, it’s even scarier.