DURHAM, N.C. – The Force is with Brook Lopez.
The noted “Star Wars” fan and comic book aficionado was over the galactic moon the Nets have made a bobblehead doll of Lopez dressed up as a Jedi Knight, to given away for the Dec. 14 game against the Magic.
“[Did you] see that it’s a Jedi?” Lopez asked after Friday’s practice at Duke University. “Pretty sweet.”
Lopez said he was happy he now is even in bobbleheads with his twin brother, Robin, after their hometown Fresno Grizzlies – a Triple-A baseball team – honored Robin with a bobblehead this summer.
“He won a [fan vote] bracket in Fresno,” Lopez said. “He won the bracket. I wasn’t even on the bracket. [Pelicans forward] Quincy Pondexter was on the bracket and I got left off. So now I do feel good, getting my own bobblehead.”
Lopez has campaigned publicly to be in one of the upcoming “Star Wars” movies. One bobblehead option that was considered was Lopez as a Wookiee, before eventually agreeing on the Jedi holding a lightsaber.
“We talked about a Wookiee one, but we felt Jedi was more universal, though,” Lopez said. “We didn’t know if they would just be like, ‘Is this with his shirt off? Is this just hairy Brook Lopez?’”
Thaddeus Young also will get his own bobblehead. The “Thaddiator” bobblehead of Young dressed up as a gladiator will be given away at the Jan. 4 game against the Celtics. This is the first time the Nets have given away bobbleheads since they moved to Brooklyn three years ago.
Though Young may not have been quite as excited as Lopez was – frankly, that’s setting the bar too high – he was happy with how it turned out.
“They asked me about mine,” he said. “They did the little ‘Thaddiator.’ … I thought it was funny when they first sent me the picture.”
Young wasn’t included in the design process, but he assumed the design came from a Photoshopped Instagram post the team account put up of him back in March, a few weeks after he’d been acquired in trade with the Timberwolves for Kevin Garnett. Young – who joked that he’s a fan of “Gladiator” and “300” – was happy with the outcome.
“They put my head on a gladiator on Instagram, and they kind of just ran with it,” Young said, though the team said it simply came from a common nickname. “My first actual text message I sent back was ‘Laughing out loud.’ [Then] I said, ‘That’s cool. I’m good with that.’”