RECORD QUEST
Lopez nears Nets’ scoring mark — with Buck Williams cheering
As the Nets march toward the end of the season, Brook Lopez is marching toward franchise history — and toward Buck Williams.
One of the bright spots in a lastplace campaign would be Lopez becoming the leading scorer in Nets history, and the face of the franchise is on pace to do just that, either in Saturday’s home finale against the Bulls or Monday in Boston.
“It’ll be an honor, no question. … It’ll absolutely be a highlight,’’ said Lopez, who scored 10 points Thursday night in a 115-107 loss at Orlando and now needs 35 points to top the 10,440 Williams totaled from 1981-89. Williams never dreamed his record would last nearly 28 years, but he also can’t imagine a more fitting person to break it.
“I didn’t anticipate the record standing for over 27 years. No, I didn’t see it standing that long,’’ Williams told The Post.
And now that it’s finally in jeopardy — with three games remaining in the season, which ends Wednesday at Chicago — Williams is at peace with handing the mantle over to a worthy successor.
“I’ve had my career. I’m pretty content with what I’ve done,” Williams said. “I wish him well. We’ll be linked together. I don’t look at it [as a bad thing]. I’m happy he’s had the kind of career he had, to be spoken with the Nets franchise as I am.
“It’s an honor for me to be mentioned with a young guy like that, who’s had a career like that. He’s a good player, a good person, who kept his head down and worked hard like I did. I can’t think of a better player to break my record.”
That’s partly because when Williams looks at Lopez — and he said he has kept an eye on the big center over the years — he sees some of himself and can’t help but notice the similarities in their struggles as one of the few bedrocks on tumultuous teams.
“[The Nets] went through a transitional period. I worked for them for a period,” Williams said. “But I do keep up with what’s going on in the organization. I follow them, but not as closely as I have in the past before they made the move from Jersey.
“There’s a lot of similarities. He’d been injured for a while in terms of his history with the franchise. And, like me, there was a lot of turmoil and a lot of revolving door. It was very difficult to play. One thing that was a constant was me, for [eight] years. Same thing with Brook. We’ve been there through injuries, and good or bad. So there are some similarities.”
Williams never dealt with the injuries that Lopez suffered early in his career, but he certainly had to deal with the dysfunction and upheaval. Oh, and the losing. The Nets were 69-177 in his final three seasons in New Jersey, before trading him at 29. That’s the same age Lopez is now, with Brooklyn stuck in the NBA cellar.
Lopez was linked to rumored deals at the trade deadline, and surely will be again this offseason. That means, despite Lopez being happy as the face of the franchise, it’s important to break the mark before the end of the season.
For his part, Lopez is almost sheepish talking about the record, but those who know him best know how much it would mean to him.
“That’d be something supermeaningful for anybody in the league,” Lopez’s twin brother, Robin, told The Post. “Obviously he’s going to keep it team-oriented in everything, but that’s a heck of an accomplishment.”
Nets coach Kenny Atkinson agreed.
“There are a lot of darn great players who’ve come through here, so it’s a heck of an accomplishment,” Atkinson said. “We all identify with guys that stay with one franchise for a long time. That’s pretty cool that he’s done that.
“So it’s a great accomplishment for him, and it’s pretty cool for the organization to have a guy that’s been here that long and loves being here.”