The Brooklyn Nets were encouraged by Caris LeVert's emergence as more than a role player for the organization, but that hope was quickly deflated by an early-season foot injury that could have sidelined him for the rest of the season.

At first, the gruesome nature of his injury brought back memories of Gordon Hayward's nasty fall from an alley-oop play in the 2017-18 season opener, one that would ultimately see him out for the remainder of the campaign:

“When I saw that injury, I thought he was done for the year,” Jared Dudley told Anthony Puccio of SNY after Brooklyn knocked off Philadelphia in Game 1 of the Eastern Conference quarterfinals. “Hate to see it, but luckily the results were good and now he's good.”

Following tests, LeVert was listed as “out indefinitely,” but his diagnosis quickly brought some semblance of hope, as they then expected him back at some point before the end of the regular season:

“We didn't know, like, ‘Is he gonna be back this year? Is he gonna get it back this soon?' I was doubtful,” said head coach Kenny Atkinson after a 111-102 win over the Sixers. “I was expecting okay, let's get what he can from him and next year he'll be great Caris again. It's huge the timing of him getting well and playing well.”

LeVert missed three months with his foot injury, but got back in early February to rejoin his teammates on the court. While he struggled to regain his playing momentum, he played an integral part of the Nets' Game 1 win over the Philadelphia 76ers, scoring 23 points off the bench on 8-of-18 from the floor, 3-of-3 from deep and a clean 4-of-4 from the foul line.