3 Cavs players who aren’t living up to expectations thus far

No. 1: Caris LeVert

Caris LeVert has had his share of struggles this season. On the year, LeVert has had 12.4 points per outing, which hasn’t been killing it, if you will, and his not nearly what he’d been in recent prior seasons when he had a legit chunk of games under his belt.

It’s not all necessarily on LeVert, as one would be reasonable to have their doubts about his outlook coming into the year, particularly with him being a questionable fit for considerable stretches with Darius Garland and Donovan Mitchell, too. LeVert began starting, and has been mostly coming off the bench since, with Lamar Stevens mostly stepping in for LeVert at the 3, for defensive purposes.

LeVert has had his moments, including since he returned from missing a handful of games because of an ankle sprain, and in each of Cleveland’s past two games in filling in for Mitchell (lower leg soreness), prior to Monday, LeVert had 22 points. He also was a bright spot in a frustrating loss at the San Antonio Spurs on Monday night, too, with 23 points on nine-of-13 shooting.

Those sort of outings have not been a regularity with him, though, as while LeVert has been decent from three, given his sort of role, at a hit rate of 36.6 percent, he’s hit only 41.7 percent of his twos. He’s connected on sub-40.0 percent of those for most of the season thus far, too.

As a result, he’s began the season with an effective field goal shooting clip of 46.6, which would be a career-low. His lack of touch on mid-range pull-ups has been concerning, too, as while that’s not always a quality shot, and LeVert can be prone to settling for tough looks, he can make those and be a bail-out option.

Unfortunately, even with there being some uncertainty involving him heading into the season, given the roster outlook, and the arrival of Mitchell, LeVert this amount of offensive inconsistency in finding his way is not nearly something I’d have foreseen.

He has been better defensively than one probably would’ve anticipated for stretches coming in, and on a positive note, LeVert has had 4.5 assists per outing. His secondary playmaking has been underrated, honestly, and his hustle plays shouldn’t be discounted; 4.3 rebounds per game has been decent.

But, with him being on an expiring deal, one has to objectively see him as a potential trade piece, even with him arriving via trade last season. With what’s played out this season so far, one would be in the right to have reservations about LeVert as a long-term piece for Cleveland.

He hasn’t been able to quite put it together on offense for multiple stretches of games nearly enough yet.