When Caris LeVert went down in a heap on Nov. 12, everybody who saw his nasty foot injury was just worried about his career. Those concerns are in the past. Not only has LeVert made it back this season, but also he could be the Nets’ biggest X factor in the postseason.
For a player who has spent much of his young life overcoming adversity, this recovery shouldn’t have been surprising. But it’s no less impressive.
“It feels good,” LeVert said of his return to form. “You can’t judge somebody when they’re doing well: You’ve got to judge them when they’re going through adversity. I’ve gone through a lot of adversity this year, highs and lows. And at the end of it, I’ve tried to stay even-keeled.
“I knew it’d be a long road back for sure, and there’s some things I’m still working on with my body and taking contact and getting my legs back under me. But I feel good, I feel confident and we’re ready to make a run in the playoffs.”
LeVert has faced more than his share of lows, from losing his father while he was still a sophomore in high school to three foot surgeries in less than two years at Michigan. But he overcame those challenges, and now he has helped the Nets into the postseason for the first time since 2015.
“This is what you dream about when you’re a kid: You dream about March Madness, you dream about the NBA playoffs,” LeVert said. “You want to be able to play for a championship, play for your city, play when it matters.”
After LeVert’s injury was diagnosed as a dislocated foot, he avoided season-ending surgery and returned Feb. 8. The Nets, however, quietly worried he wouldn’t regain his pre-injury form until next season. LeVert was impatient to see it himself.
“Just so anxious for him to get to that level. He was frustrated by not getting there sooner,” coach Kenny Atkinson said. “I knew there was going to be a point where it clicked. That happened four or five games ago.
“The good thing, we haven’t seen any regression. You’re afraid it’s just a one-game thing or a two-game thing; now he’s stringing three, four, five games together. It changes the conversation. He’s an X factor in these playoffs. If he can continue to play at the level he’s playing — even raise it one more level — that gives us more confidence going into the playoffs.”
LeVert had averaged just 9.0 points on 34.8 percent shooting (24.2 percent from 3-point range) in his first 14 games back, bottoming out with a scoreless game March 22 versus the Lakers. But since then, he has averaged 16.9 points on 47.1 and 43.3 shooting.
Seeing his free-throw attempts vault from just 1.4 up to 5.1 per game illustrates how he has gotten back his last bit of timing and explosion. And his 2.1 net rating has topped all Nets regulars.
“It’s huge,” D’Angelo Russell said. “Just what that can do to your mental [outlook], getting hurt, the pressure you put on yourself, the pressure [the media] put on us, you’re the only one is going to get through it. No one else is going to get through it. So for us to see him break through [is great]. … Man, it’s good to see him like that. Well-deserving.”
LeVert averaged 21.0 points, four assists while shooting better than 50 percent as the Nets pulled off a sweep at Milwaukee and Indiana this past weekend.
“It’s a testament to Caris and his character, how much work he’s put in to be back to this point,” Joe Harris said. “It was still a pretty terrible injury. For him to even get back to this point in the season, for him to be playing the way that he is, it speaks to how hard he’s worked, how much time he’s put in. … Caris powered through some really difficult adversity and he’s just going to be better for it.”