Rising Nets star Caris LeVert underwent successful surgery to repair ligaments in his right thumb, the team announced on Thursday. It’s a major blow for a Nets team already struggling to adjust to one another after an offseason that welcomed seven new players to the roster.
The team provided no injury timeline, but ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski reports a 4-to-6-week absence for LeVert, who was averaging nearly 17 points, five rebounds and four assists per game prior to his injury. LeVert said he injured his thumb twice in the Nets’ blowout loss to the Suns on Sunday.
For LeVert, the injuries continue to pile up. Last season, he dislocated his foot in a gruesome and freak incident in a Nov. 12, 2018 matchup against the Timberwolves. He also missed half of both his junior and senior years in college at Michigan with stress fractures in his left foot.
The Nets played well in their first game without LeVert, building a 15-point first-half lead against a Utah Jazz team expected to make a deep Western Conference playoff run. They blew that lead, however, in the first four minutes of the third quarter. The Jazz went on to win, 119-114, behind one of Kyrie Irving’s worst performances since joining the Nets.
Therein lies the problem the Nets will face as LeVert battles yet another injury. LeVert was another play-maker and offense initiator. He was a pressure release for Irving, who already boasted the fourth-highest usage percentage in the NBA, behind only James Harden, Kawhi Leonard and Trae Young.
Against the Jazz, Irving played 37 minutes and scored 27 points, but shot 10-of-30 to get there and missed his final eight shots in the fourth quarter, including a pull-up 3 with eight seconds to go that could have given the Nets the lead and the win. Without LeVert, opposing teams will key even further in on Irving.
The Nets signed Iman Shumpert, but even in his prime, he wasn’t the play-maker or facilitator this team needs. Shumpert was part of the Rockets’ playoff run last season, and the Nets were able to sign him with the 16th roster spot they were awarded in wake of Wilson Chandler’s 25-game suspension for performance-enhancing drug use. That means Shumpert will only be available until Chandler’s return: Dec. 15 against the 76ers.
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The Nets started Garrett Temple in place of LeVert, and Temple has been solid on both ends of the floor every game. Kenny Atkinson’s ability to manage minutes and rotations will be tested. That means Spencer Dinwiddie can’t play just 24 minutes like he did against the Jazz. It also likely means more minutes for Dzanan Musa, the second-year player the Nets selected in the first round of the 2018 NBA Draft, a combo guard who has flashed play-making abilities and is coming off his best performance of the season after scoring nine points on 4-of-5 shooting in the loss to the Jazz.
Most of all, it means it’s money time for Irving, who signed a four-year, $140 million contract to be the star the Nets can rely on when the pressure peaks. He says he’s put in the work to be the go-to guy in these moments, and the world saw that work when he hit that side-step three over Stephen Curry to deliver the Cavaliers their first championship in franchise history.
This is different. There’s no championship for the Nets this season. It’s Irving’s job, now, to hold this ship together, despite things outside his control crumbling around him.
NEW YORK DAILY NEWS
