Cleveland Cavaliers shooting guard Caris LeVert didn’t have a great end to the 2021-22 NBA season.
After being acquired by the Cavs from the Indiana Pacers in a midseason trade, LeVert appeared in 19 regular season games for the Wine and Gold. In those 19 games, he averaged 13.6 points, 3.4 rebounds and 3.9 assists per game while shooting 43.5 percent from the field and 31.3 percent from beyond the arc.
The former first-round pick also missed some time due to injury, and he seemingly wasn’t able to get fully acclimated with his new team.
Despite that, LeVert is currently penciled in as the team’s starting shooting guard for the 2022-23 season.
“With that said, heading into training camp this fall is a new opportunity for LeVert to show the Cavaliers why they traded for him in the first place,” wrote Evan Dammarell of Right Down Euclid. “He’s had this offseason to get fully healthy and can now utilize the precious practice with his teammates to find the familiarity he struggled to obtain last season. Sources say that, for now, LeVert is penciled in as the starting shooting guard next to [Darius] Garland in the backcourt. Cleveland likes his ability as a bigger guard to relieve defensive attention off of guard as well as his ability to create individually on the offensive side of the ball as well.”
Depending on what happens with restricted free agent Collin Sexton, LeVert could find himself in a backup role for the Cavs this upcoming season.
The 27-year-old has one year left on his current contract and is set to become an unrestricted free agent in the 2023 offseason. Given that LeVert could hit the open market at an important time in his career, fans might see a very motivated version of the veteran during the 2022-23 campaign.
After losing in back-to-back games in the play-in tournament last season and missing the playoffs as a result, LeVert and the Cavs are looking to make some more noise this season.
Cleveland has a nice core that is headlined by All-Stars Darius Garland and Jarrett Allen and rising star Evan Mobley.
LeVert is surely hoping that he can help those three and the Cavs as much as possible this season.
