Should they keep Caris LeVert?
If a trade is to happen, Beal, LaVine, or other, LeVert will almost have to be included. If this third star does exist and is on the trade market, the other team won’t want to let them go for nothing and the biggest trade assets the Nets have is LeVert and their own first-round picks in the 2021 draft and onwards.
While picks are valuable, Brooklyn projects to be at the very least, a playoff lock for years to come and hopeful title contender, meaning the selections will be in the late-first round.
I should mention that the last time we thought the Nets were safe giving away future picks it ended up… poorly.
(Insert Billy King/Mikhail Prokhorov joke here).
In LeVert, teams will be getting a 26-year-old wing who just averaged over 18 points on a playoff team and was the helm of the offense in the bubble playoff run, however short-lived the run ends up being.
Caris shot 42 percent from the floor and 37 percent from 3-point range and was below the league average at the rim and in the mid-range according to Cleaning the Glass, in the 35th percentile among other combo guards.
Conversely, he was near the top of the league at drawing fouls, getting to the line on over 11 percent of his shooting opportunities, good or the 82nd percentile for his positional grouping.
On defense, his stereotype as a long wing holds up, swiping the ball from opposing players 1.2 times per contest with his steal percentage putting him in the upper third among combo guards.
The issue is, at age 26, the receiving team wouldn’t be getting much upside on the trade. How many guys can you name that took that ‘next step’ up in their late 20’s?
Jimmy Butler, a similar archetype of player, won the NBA’s Most Improved Player award at age 25, CJ McCollum won his Most Improved award at 24 and Evan Fournier (much more tempered expectation) surpassed the 15-point average at 24.
Maybe LeVert is a nice piece for a team to receive in return, especially since his new three-year, $52.5 million contract kicks in next season and could be a sweet way to match salaries, but he’s not the sort of player you build a trade around.