Cavaliers guard Caris LeVert hopes to sign a contract extension and remain with the team long-term, Kelsey Russo of The Athletic tweets. LeVert, who was acquired by Cleveland in February, averaged 13.6 points on 43.5% shooting in his 19 games with his new club.
“Yeah, this is where I want to be. They know that,” LeVert said. “The front office knows that, my teammates know that. So I don’t know what’s gonna happen with that contract extension, but I know where my heart is.”
LeVert, who was born in Columbus, Ohio, is set to earn $18.8MM next season in the final year of his current deal, and will be extension-eligible this summer. The 27-year-old averaged a career-high 20.2 points with Brooklyn and Indiana in 2020/21, shooting 44% from the floor and 33% from three-point range.
There’s more from the Central Division today:
- Despite losing to the Hawks in the play-in tournament on Friday, the Cavaliers‘ season appeared to be the start of something special, Chris Fedor of Cleveland.com writes. Cleveland’s experiment of starting Evan Mobley, Lauri Markkanen and Jarrett Allen together worked and the team still has a young core headlined by Darius Garland. The Cavs were in the playoff picture for most of the season despite dealing with injuries to multiple key players.
- The Bulls will be without assistant coaches Chris Fleming and Damian Cotter in Game 1 of their first-round series, according to The Associated Press. Fleming and Cotter both tested positive for COVID-19. Chicago will open the playoffs on the road against Milwaukee on Sunday.
- James Boyd of the Indianapolis Star explains why trading for Russell Westbrook may not be the best idea for the Pacers. Westbrook is coming off a tumultuous season with the Lakers, while the Pacers are believed to be willing to move starting point guard Malcolm Brogdon. Indiana dealt with numerous injuries this year and finished with a 25-57 record.
I really think Sexton could’ve been the answer to their scoring. Garland has too much responsibility to provide offense. Sexton is a bucket with ice cold blood in his veins. With Mobley and Allen they can cover their guards backs allowing them to pressure the ball more. Would love to see how the offense can run with Sexton alongside Garland.
Not sure you’d want Garland, Sexton and Lauri on the court at the same time even with the defensive guys in the frontcourt. I’d think you could only have two of them out there at a time, which means someone would have to come off the bench (presumably Lauri).
Sheagoodbye: agree..lauri should be coming from the bench.start okoro.
Lauri hasn’t been as bad on defense on the wing as you’d think. He gets abused switching into point guards but having guarding 3s keeps him out of PnRs.
Having Levert or Okoro start and stagger Sexton amd Garlands minutes would have helped a lot.
I agree in that Sexton is the key for Cleveland to take the next step, either by rebooting his value for a trade or by integrating himself into their new look.
I feel like if Okoro becomes more consistent a lineup of SexLand-Mobley-Allen-Okoro could have enough defensive oomph to allow SL to cook. Could be a lethal look, esp if Mobley continues to develop offensively.
Is it really necessary at this point to argue why trading for Russell Westbrook wouldn’t be the best idea for any team (unless there is significant compensation in terms of draft picks)?
These sport writers are trying hard to get Westbrook traded anywhere but its not going to happen.
The Lakers are anxious to reboot.
Only bad thing about Russ is his contract, but that goes for any guy signed to big money over 30 is by definition a bad contract, including Harden, Curry, Kawhi & so on…
Lavert never integrated, so there’s no reason to expect an extension. He was not really expected to be a fit-in, team-flow kind of player, but he rarely made a difference with an add-on offense.