Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving really value Caris LeVert, so much so that the Brooklyn Nets stars didn't want general manager Sean Marks to trade the youngster to the New Orleans Pelicans for Jrue Holiday.
According to Shams Charania of The Athletic, Durant and Irving view LeVert “as a very significant part” of the Nets.
“It was a bevy of draft picks, and that just was not a position that Brooklyn was in. They didn't want to give up two, three first-round picks, multiple pick swaps. Milwaukee obviously wanted to make that move, they clearly want to go for it this year, and they needed that second, third star on this team,” Charania said on Complex's Load Management podcast, via CBS Sports.
“But Brooklyn looked into it, but at the end of the day, they didn't want to trade a guy like Caris LeVert, I'm told, for Jrue Holiday. Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, these guys view Caris LeVert as a very significant part of this team.”
The Milwaukee Bucks wound up trading for Holiday. The Nets, meanwhile, will start the season with Durant, Irving, LeVert and Spencer Dinwiddie as the team's top four scorers.
Last season in 45 games, LeVert averaged 18.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists for the Nets. He shot 42.5 percent from the field, 36.4 percent from beyond the arc and 71.1 percent from the free-throw line.
Before the 2019-20 season started, the Nets gave LeVert a three-year, $52.5 million extension. The swingman will make $16,203,704 in 2020-21 and $17,500,000 in 2021-22.
With Durant and Irving leading the way, the Nets are expected to compete for the championship in 2020-21. The season starts on Dec. 22.
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