Brook Lopez has been named by David Stern as Rajon Rondo's injury replacement.

Lopez is having the finest season of his career after signing an offseason maximum contract with the Brooklyn Nets.

A roster spot on the Eastern Conference All-Star team has opened up with the loss of Rajon Rondo for the rest of the season to a torn ACL injury.

NBA commissioner David Stern will decide who replace Rondo and become an All-Star.

The Brooklyn Nets hope Brook Lopez, Deron Williams, or Joe Johnson will be named to the team.

“I’m equal opportunity,” said interim coach P.J. Carlesimo. “I just hope it’s one of our three guys. Obviously, I don’t want to be the one to pick, but honestly I don’t know what the commissioner is going to do. I don’t know what will guide him in his decision.”

Brook Lopez has emerged as the leading candidate amongst the trio to obtain the All-Star berth. Lopez leads all NBA centers in field goals made (7.42), points per game (18.58), and PER (25.72).

“An All-Star bid is an All-Star bid so it still would be an honor,” said Lopez. “That being said, I know there’s a lot of deserving guys who didn’t get their names called and we’ll see what happens. I’m not really going to be paying attention to it. I’m focused on helping this team win.”

Williams also vouched for Lopez to earn the final All-Star spot.

“He’s an All-Star this year,” said Williams. “It’s just unfortunate because everybody that’s on the team deserved to be on the team, but now there’s a spot so there’s still a chance that he can get in.” 

Tornike Shengelia, playing for the Springfield Armor on assignment from the Brooklyn Nets, has been named NBA Development League Performer of the Week for games played Jan. 21-27.

Shengelia played in two of the Armor’s four games last week, helping the team to a 2-2 record. He began his assignment, the second of his career, by tying an Armor franchise record with 39 points on 17-of-21 shooting to go with a game-high 18 rebounds and six assists in a 123-115 home win of the Maine Red Claws. He finished the week with a 24-point, 13-rebound performance in a 111-100 victory over the visiting Santa Cruz Warriors.

For the week, Shengelia averaged 31.5 points, 15.5 rebounds, 4.5 assists and 41.0 minutes. He shot 76 percent from the floor (25-of-33) while going 4-of-7 (57 percent) from behind the three-point line.

The Brooklyn Nets have recalled forward Tornike Shengelia and guard Tyshawn Taylor from the Springfield Armor of the NBA Development League.

In three games for the Armor this season, Shengelia holds D-League averages of 28.3 points, 13.7 rebounds, 7.0 assists and 3.0 steals per game. Shengelia posted a franchise-high tying 39 points to go along with 18 rebounds on January 24 vs. Maine.

Taylor has averaged 26.5 points, 7.5 assists and 4.3 rebounds in four D-League contests this season.

P.J. Carlesimo is not sold on the NBA’s growing trend toward small ball lineups.

“To me, big teams are still the teams that are winning in this league,” Carlesimo said. “Miami is the exception. But Oklahoma City was the other team that made it to the Finals. Boston when they were in. San Antonio when they were in. I know everybody is saying that’s the way the league is going and that’s the way with the match ups. But to me, if you still look at the elite teams in the league, particularly the elite defensive teams, most of them are playing with a 4 and a 5. Most of them are big and they wail on you. Most of them are good defensively and they’re a very good rebounding team."

Carlesimo has started Reggie Evans at power forward for the last 13 games -- a stretch during which the Nets have gone 10-3.

“I still think that’s the way to go in this league,” Carlesimo said. “No one likes having to defend against Miami, but Miami would like to be bigger themselves. I don’t think they said we’re going stay small so nobody else can do that. If they can get another big to go with [Chris] Bosh and LeBron [James], they’d welcome it.”

The NBA has announced the reserves for the 2013 All-Star Game in Houston.

Western Conference Reserves
Tony Parker
James Harden
LaMarcus Aldridge 
David Lee
Zach Randolph
Tim Duncan 
Russell Westbrook 

Eastern Conference Reserves
Paul George
Jrue Holiday 
Tyson Chandler 
Chris Bosh 
Joakim Noah 
Luol Deng
Kyrie Irving 

Fifteen teams have at least one All-Star (Knicks, Heat, Celtics, Bulls, Pacers, 76ers, Blazers, Spurs, Rockets, Warriors and Grizzlies), while 15 teams do not have a representative (Hawks, Nets, Bobcats, Mavericks, Nuggets, Pistons, Bucks, Wolves, Hornets, Magic, Suns, Kings, Raptors, Jazz and Wizards).

The 76ers and Cavaliers each sent a Coaches Vote All-Star despite a losing record, while the Lakers and Celtics have two starters despite a sub-.500 record.

The Nets, Hawks, Bucks, Nuggets and Jazz all have a record over .500 and no All-Stars. 

The All-Star starters are LeBron James, Carmelo Anthony, Kevin Garnett, Dwyane Wade, Rajon Rondo, Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, Blake Griffin, Dwight Howard and Chris Paul.

Brook Lopez was the subject of trade rumors throughout the 11-12 season and he has been linked again despite having an outstanding season for the Brooklyn Nets.

“We’re happy with Brook,” Deron Williams said. “Brook is our center. He’s having an All-Star year. I don’t see Brook going anywhere.”

RealGM reported on Tuesday that the Nets continue to monitor the potential availability of Howard.

“(Lopez and I) talked about it last night,” Williams said. “All it is is rumors and sources. Sources are not credible to me. Until you put a name to a source, it’s not credible.

“I’d be really surprised if Lopez doesn’t make (the All-Star reserves, which will be announced tomorrow). I don’t know how you could leave Brook off. What he’s meant to this team on both sides of the floor. He’s been the most consistent throughout this season. I think he’s an All-Star. …I think in general he just came in with a chip on his shoulders, being in thrown around in trade rumors for the last two years and being hurt last year and people doubting him, so I think he definitely came in ready to go this year and really confident. Hopefully people are taking notice.”

A report from RealGM's Jarrod Rudolph that Billy King continues to pursue his options for the Brooklyn Nets to acquire Dwight Howard has been denied by an unnamed source that spoke with Mike Mazzeo of ESPN.

Any trade the Nets may make for Howard would almost certainly include Brook Lopez, who has been having an All-Star caliber season. The Nets previously used Lopez in trade talks for Howard before ultimately agreeing to a max contract last offseason.

Rudolph reported that Nets general manager Billy King will not be as active in his pursuit of a trade for Howard as he was previously, but that he will continue to monitor the situation.

ESPN's Ian O'Connor reported last week that the Nets have lessened their desire to acquire Howard.

"It's not as cut and dried as it was last year," one NBA official familiar with the thinking of Nets management told O'Connor, "when the feeling was go ahead and pretty much gut the team for Dwight, give up a bunch of draft picks and players and take back bad contracts. That feeling isn't there anymore."

The Brooklyn Nets have reassigned forward Tornike Shengelia and guard Tyshawn Taylor to the Springfield Armor of the NBA Development League.

Shengelia, acquired from the Philadelphia 76ers after being drafted 54th overall in the 2012 NBA Draft, has appeared in 13 games for the Nets this season, averaging 1.4 points, 0.8 steals and 0.7 rebounds per game.

Taylor, a rookie out of Kansas, has made 21 appearances for the Nets on the year, averaging 1.6 points, 0.2 rebounds and 0.2 assists per game.

The Brooklyn Nets are preparing to make another run at Dwight Howard, according to a source.

Playing in Brooklyn with Deron Williams and Joe Johnson was at the top of Howard’s list last summer and the Nets are convinced that he still has a strong desire to make the Barclays Center his home office. The Nets have played well under P.J. Carlesimo and feel like the addition of Howard could be the piece that gets them to the NBA Finals.

Nets general manager Billy King has closely monitored the struggling Lakers and quietly searched for a third team with an attractive piece that would help facilitate a trade that would deliver Howard to the Nets, according to sources.

The Lakers have struggled through injuries, a coaching change and a lack of chemistry this season. The team is currently 17-24 and facing the reality that missing the playoffs seems inevitable. The feeling out of Brooklyn is that Howard can be had for the right price because of the Lakers’ struggles and long-term commitment to a collection of pieces that just don’t seem to fit or complement Howard’s assortment of skills.

The only missing element was a third team with an attractive piece that would force the Lakers to consider the future of the franchise and directly question Howard about the direction he’s leaning at this point of the season. King, according to sources, was confident that he had a trade proposal that was a perfect fit for all teams involved.

According to sources, King was planning to contact the Minnesota Timberwolves in order to gauge their interest in a three-team trade that would send Kevin Love to the Lakers, Brook Lopez to the Timberwolves and Dwight Howard to the Nets. Other small pieces would need to be included, but the proposed trade was thought to be intriguing enough to start conversations in the Lakers front office that would force them to deal with Howard earlier than planned.

That idea, however, was shelved when Love was sidelined 8-10 weeks with a broken hand. The Nets believed the Lakers would be interested in Love, but not an injured Love, even if they’re facing missing the playoffs, according to sources.

King will still look around for an attractive piece for the Lakers, but won’t make getting Howard as big a priority as last season, according to sources. But he will continue to watch the Lakers and explore intriguing trade options, sources said.