Cavs’ Caris LeVert has to produce early next year if he does indeed start

It was somewhat of a mixed bag for Caris LeVert in his time with the Cleveland Cavaliers in the closing stretch of last season, following his trade acquisition from the Indiana Pacers near the 2022 deadline.

LeVert had time both off the bench and as a starter in his 19 regular season appearances with the Cavaliers, en route to him having 13.6 points and 3.9 assists per contest. That was in 29.8 minutes per appearance, with him then starting 10 games, and coming off the bench in nine.

LeVert was acquired by the Cavaliers near the past trade deadline from Indiana in order to take some pressure off of Darius Garland, and help give the team some added playmaking, seemingly.

Unfortunately for LeVert, it was tough for him to get into a rhythm in that scenario initially, and then it was difficult to find consistency in the last part of the year, because he missed the first nine games post-All-Star break, due to a foot sprain. He did show some encouraging signs after he was further acclimated, on a positive note, but it wasn’t quite what one would’ve hoped for from him in that stretch run.

With a full offseason to feasibly get more comfortable with the team, though, one would think LeVert could be more settled in at the outset of the 2022-23 campaign with Cleveland. He did some good moments still near the closing portion of last season, too, and his chemistry with Darius Garland got better in the last part of last season, so perhaps that can carry forward.

I’m still not fully bought-in on the LeVert front, honestly, but currently, it’s reportedly likely that LeVert ends up as the starting 2 to begin next season, albeit before that’s eventually decided in training camp. This is per reports from Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com (subscription required) and Evan Dammarell of Right Down Euclid and Fear The Sword. I’d probably prefer Collin Sexton be back in that role; his situation is complicated at the moment, however, and we’ll have to see what plays out as to whether or not he’s signed long-term.

LeVert meanwhile, is a player that is extension-eligible soon, as an aside, and maybe he ends up being signed long-term. I personally would be skeptical of that, given LeVert’s injury history, which despite last season being mostly wiped out for Sexton, Collin’s been durable, whereas Caris has had an extensive injury history.

Regardless, both can still help the Cavaliers, so it’ll be interesting to see what transpires in the weeks/months to come.

So, anyway, on the LeVert subject, it is apparent that early next season, he needs to provide his share of solid production, and seemingly help in multiple ways from the outset, if he is in fact starting.

There were some positive signs last season, and early next year with the Cavs, LeVert needs to produce if he indeed is starting.

I do LeVert some slack for his mixed bag with the Cavs last season, given the circumstances in a new situation, and the foot sprain didn’t exactly help him establish a rhythm alongside others. There were good moments, fortunately, and I thought he did provide some solid playmaking when the opportunities presented themselves.

Furthermore, while I do have some qualms about LeVert being able to function as an off-ball player to some extent for stretches, there were some positive signs, when it comes to when he did start, for context.

In 10 starts with Cleveland in the regular season, he had 15.8 points and 4.6 assists in 33.5 minutes per contest, and shot 47.3 percent overall. Conversely, in nine regular season games where he was a bench contributor, he had 11.1 points and 3.2 assists in 25.8 minutes per outing, but his shooting clip was 38.6 percent.

Next season, it’s clear that after a full offseason to get further acclimated with the team, and hopefully more so in training camp in the weeks leading into it, LeVert needs to hit the ground running, however. He’ll likely get his share of chances to make things happen, but does LeVert continue to show he can made strides as far as meshing with Garland?

Sexton demonstrated more viability in that way in the 2020-21 campaign, and exhibited more cutting growth early last season pre-injury, and while I find LeVert to be more advanced as a passer than Sexton, Sexton has shown more legitimacy as a catch-and-shoot player.

LeVert shot only 27.8 percent from three in his 10 Cavs starts in 2021-22, and lifetime, has shot 33.3 percent from three, whereas Sexton in three-plus seasons, despite his ice cold start last season, has shot 37.8 percent from three. Both have not shot a particularly high volume of deep attempts, though.

Perhaps LeVert can be more respectable than he was in the closing stretch of last season from deep, and in terms of pick-and-roll play, can be more on-point, with more time with Jarrett Allen next season. Allen was not a player LeVert played much with in that closing stretch last season, with Allen mostly sidelined.

In any case, overall, time will tell if LeVert proves to be a long-term piece for the Cavaliers. But generally, I do believe he’ll need to produce game-to-game in the early portion of next season, and he’ll need to show he can provide some impactful off-ball play, while being fairly efficient, and I’d imagine, help with playmaking.

If LeVert does indeed begin the season as the starting 2, and it’s clearly not working out in the first 12-15 games, I’d imagine the possibility for him being traded could definitely increase, with him currently set to be expiring. Of course, we’ll have to see if he’s potentially extended, and maybe in that sense, he could be a trade piece more so down the road, if it were to come to that.

Or if the Cavs find LeVert functions better as a key bench scoring/playmaking option, and they bring Sexton back into the starting unit, or Isaac Okoro, more so if Sexton is traded, it is what it is. Ochai Agbaji could be another name to watch in that realm, too, for what it’s worth.

The LeVert situation is one of the more interesting storylines to watch in 2022-23, and from the jump.