The Cavaliers must avoid committing long-term to Caris LeVert
Caris LeVert was a good player for the Cleveland Cavaliers this season, and he absolutely bought in on defense and accepted that he could best help this team win by coming off the bench. Not for one minute did he publicly attempt to make a contract year season about him, and that sort of maturity and humility is ideal for building a team culture.
The problem is that he is such a poor fit with the core players that it would be a big mistake to commit long-term to him this summer. LeVert will be an unrestricted free agent and looking for a big contract; the Cavaliers can’t be the ones to sign him to it.
It’s reasonable for the Cavs to want to re-sign LeVert in order to not lose him for nothing; if they can work out a sign-and-trade that would be ideal, or signing him to a contract that is moveable down the line could work as well. Any deal has to be tradeable, ideally at the deadline this upcoming season.
The Cavs played LeVert a lot in the playoffs, and he had a great Game 2. Otherwise, he was the same player he has always been, running hot-or-cold on his jumper. LeVert isn’t a knockdown shoot nor a lockdown defender, and the Cavs need someone different to make this team work.