During the trade deadline this season, the Cleveland Cavaliers shipped away Ricky Rubio, alongside a few other draft assets, to the Indiana Pacers for Caris LeVert and a second-round pick. LeVert was coming off of averaging 18.7 points, 4.4 assists, and 3.8 rebounds up until that point for the Pacers. During the time of the trade, Cleveland was one of the best teams in the league, being one of the higher seeds in the Eastern Conference by the trade deadline.
After this trade, LeVert wasn’t a seamless fit. LeVert is not the best defender in the world, by all means, and Cleveland was known this season to be one of the best defensive teams in the league. Some games he seemed to be out of place, missing shots left and right. Other games he was on a hot streak, not seeming to be able to miss. Inconsistent is the correct term I am looking for.
Don’t get me wrong, LeVert is a tremendous player, and deserves every penny of his contract. However, his play for Cleveland this season was below expectations, for some, including myself. But, I won’t blame him. He was playing for a subpar Pacers team who missed the playoffs and was at some points, the only quality scorer on the roster. He also was thrust into a new team with new expectations and had to adapt to the new roster rather quickly.
LeVert is reaching the end of his contract, having only one year left on his deal that he signed with the Brooklyn Nets a few years ago. According to a report from Michael Scotto of HoopsHype in a recent episode of his podcast featuring Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com, Scotto said this about Cleveland’s intentions about extending LeVert’s contract.
"“From what I’ve heard, Cleveland would like to keep LeVert. That’s why they traded for him with that intention… I’d surmise that both sides would like to make this [contract extension] happen at this point.”"
LeVert is a very quality scorer in the NBA, so it comes as no surprise as in the same podcast, Scotto also stated a source said LeVert might get around $20.5 million on his contract extension. However, there are many pros and cons of signing LeVert to this potential extension. For the article’s sake, I (as Koby Altman) will give LeVert the extension he wants, so I’ll ballpark it around 4 years, $85 million. Here are some pros in regards to potentially re-signing LeVert this offseason.