While the Brooklyn Nets were able to pull off a blockbuster deal for former MVP James Harden on Wednesday, they had to give up some key pieces such as Caris LeVert in order to get the deal done. Though the trade doesn't impact his team's status, Portland Trail Blazers star guard Damian Lillard offered up his thoughts on LeVert heading to the Indiana Pacers in an undercard deal in exchange for Victor Oladipo.

Caris LeVert was already well on his way to becoming a formidable two-way player in Brooklyn despite the arrival of Irving and Durant. If anything, his production was hindered after reasonably having to take a backseat to the two stars, so like Damian Lillard said, the move to the Pacers could be beneficial to him,.

LeVert was able to come into the 2020-21 season and thrive in his bench role, but it was obvious that he could do more with additional floor time. That time came after the unfortunate, season-ending injury to Spencer Dinwiddie in which he partially tore his ACL.

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With Oladipo out of the picture, LeVert will likely get majority control of the backcourt alongside Malcolm Brogdon with the Pacers. The 26-year old scoring talent averaged 18.5 points, 4.3 rebounds and 6.0 assists for the Nets through his first 12 games of the season. He started in four of those contests, primarily due to the absence of Irving.

LeVert has shown that he's more than capable of carrying an offense, which is what he'll be assigned to doing with the Pacers. He averaged 18.7 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.4 assists last season in the absence of Durant and Irving after he was sidelined due to a shoulder injury.