Player review: Caris LeVert

Injuries put LeVert into a role that showed more of the warts in his game.

At times, Caris LeVert has been one of the premier backup guards in the league for the Cleveland Cavaliers. When LeVert is dialed in, it feels like you have a walking bucket to be the tide that raises all ships. However, when the shot does not fall, it can feel like LeVert plays for himself and his teammates are spectators more than participants. In 2023-2024, the Cavaliers saw both sides of the LeVert experience, reaping the benefits and feeling all of the bumps along the road.

LeVert started the season strong, providing the Cavaliers with a regular dose of scoring off the bench. The Cavs relied on LeVert’s ability to generate offense in bunches during the early months of the season. When LeVert’s shot is falling, he is easily one of the more dynamic scorers on the team, usually paired with Donovan Mitchell or Darius Garland he mostly operates as a secondary playmaker.

At one point, LeVert was in the running for the Sixth Man of the Year award. Unfortunately, as he’s shown throughout his career, he can be a volatile scorer. LeVert in the latter half of the season tapered off, scoring 10.4 points per game (40.9 FG% and 29.8 3PT%) in February and 11.9 ppg (37.5 FG% and 26.1 3PT%). The Cavaliers were placed into an uncomfortable situation, with injuries ravaging the starters and the depth this past season, LeVert never felt like he could get the rest he needed.

Even though the team preferred him to remain in his sixth-man role, the minutes ramped up, giving LeVert to search for answers and the Cavaliers really couldn’t turn elsewhere. The microcosm of the LeVert situation is that, in a vacuum, LeVert is a valuable player in a rotation — however, when left to his own devices with no recourse available — it feels like he is experimenting with ways to break a clear slump.

The Cavaliers’ roster had few players that could burden the load of the primary ball handlers. LeVert is a shooting guard who can handle the ball, but by no means should have the keys to an offense for stretches of games. While he will have nice sequences, usually finding bigs off the pick and roll, he isn’t someone who can keep an idea of where his other four teammates are on the floor as he drives to the cup.

The options for the Cavaliers, outside of Garland and Mitchell, were LeVert and undrafted rookie Craig Porter Jr. It was clear early on that Porter was not going to be an NBA-ready level backup point guard. With injuries to both star guards, LeVert might have been the second most capable ball handler on most nights. That is more an indictment of the roster construction than of LeVert’s talent.

Twenty-nine teams in the league would want a Caris LeVert in their rotation. The Cavaliers had placed LeVert in a role where he has been multifaceted and stretched his game to areas where he isn’t as elite as being a one-man show. LeVert is a player who is led by his confidence. When the shot is falling, you get a taller combo guard who also can hold his own defensively. However, when that confidence is shot, you lose that buy-in as he hyper-focuses on himself to right himself reverting to a player who has an immense love for the midrange on contested three.

Having the proper depth would allow for LeVert to mentally reset. Without that opportunity, LeVert hijacked the offense at many points this season. To protect themselves and LeVert, the Cavaliers should seek a true backup point guard this offseason. Point-LeVert can feel like flipping a coin and hoping it doesn’t end up on the self-sabotage side. It’s in everyone’s best interest to avoid that coin flip entirely.