Levert Out 4-6 Weeks After Surgery
It’s official. Caris Levert underwent a procedure yesterday for ligament damage in his thumb and it will sideline him for 4-6 weeks, according to league sources who told ESPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski.
The Nets’ starting shooting guard was averaging 16.8 PPG, 4.0 APG and 5.0 RPG this season. He also started in all nine games for Brooklyn before going down with the injury.
The injury took place during the second quarter of the Nets’ 138-112 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Sunday night. Oddly enough, this took place almost a year-to-date (literally two days short) of Levert’s dislocated foot last year, which caused him to miss a significant amount of time. He ended up only playing 40 games last season, which was a blow, even though the Nets still finished as the 6 seed, with a 42-40 record.
Needless to say this injury isn’t as serious, but it still is significant considering the former Wolverine was in the starting lineup and was the Nets’ third-leading scorer.
Unfortunately for the Nets, missing games has been the theme of this season, if you will. We already know about two-time NBA champion Kevin Durant being sidelined with his torn Achilles for possibly the whole year. However, in addition to that just through the first 11 games DeAndre Jordan has missed time with a sprained ankle, Wilson Chandler still has 14 games to serve of his 25-game suspension for PEDs and although Kyrie Irving has played every game the teams keeps including in the injury report that he’s dealing with a nagging shoulder injury, then making him available last minute. Therefore it’s only a matter of time until he misses a game or two. Now, add this Levert injury to the mix.
Not to mention, this couldn’t come at a worse time since the Nets are 3-5 in the month of November and have eight more games remaining: four at home and four on the road.
The positive of these injuries though, if you’re a glass half-full type of person, is that the players who make the most of the vacant minutes will solidify their role with the team. This way they can contribute even when the roster is fully healthy, or at least close to it.
In the meantime, Garrett Temple has been getting the start in place of Levert.
