I always knew why Kevin Durant joined the Brooklyn Nets the moment I realized he played with Levert about a year ago. Kevin Durant has
always been known as a sensitive superstar from making burner accounts to respond to social media trolls to Draymmond Green directing profanity and making him feel like he was needed on the Warriors to win.
You got the vibe Durant was leaving Golden State throughout the season win or lose. At the end of the day you want to play with players you can relate with, ask Kobe how it went after his relationship soured with Shaquille O’Neal and later on Dwight Howard. Durant wants to play Levert which is my point and that will only bode well for the Brooklyn Nets going forward.
Levert is an exceptionally playmaker at 6’7 204 pounds and already a better ball handler than Klay himself who is one of the top 3 shooting guards in the NBA today, in the eyes of some the best. So what’s Levert’s ceiling over the next 3 years? Well he’s 24 and did a great job of carrying the Nets to a winning record until he’s suffered that gruesome injury early on last season.
We might not see Kevin Durant suit up this coming season which will more than likely rob the Nets of a shot to win a title but with Levert locked up for the next 3 years the Nets can assure themselves they will hoist a Larry O’Brien Trophy over the next 3 years.
In Levert the Nets have their third option in place now behind Durant and Kyrie. He could be the perfect 3rd option on a championship team because he can play off the ball and won’t fight for positioning in the pecking order with Durant and Irving. I think most of us would agree Durant is the first option followed by Kyrie, let’s move on.
Levert’s real weakness that is glaring to me is his 3 point percentage, he got as high as 34 percent his second season and got up close to 4 attempts a game. I expect him to up his averages to 17-18 ppg alongside Irving and possibly help the Nets reach an East Finals. And yes I am aware of the Kemba and Tatum led Celtics, the ever improving Giannis coming back for revenge, and the Sixers who looked prime for a title run coming off a heartbreaking Game 7 to the Raptors.
I am not penciling in the Brooklyn Nets for a Finals appearance this coming season but I do recall Kyrie Irving leading the Celtics to the best record in the Eastern Conference before getting hurt the 2017-2018 season. His relationship soured with Ainge and Stevens and he became alienated from the rest of the Boston roster. They made him out to be a locker room cancer and hard to get along with.
Well Kyrie is 26 and happy in Brooklyn playing close to where he was born and raised. Levert can do a lot of what Kyrie can do, from shaking defenders to creating his own shot and using his post game to score on turn around jumpers only Kyrie is an elite 3 point shooter and arguably the best ball handler the NBA has ever seen. The Levert extension was crucial, he is the third piece they needed alongside Kyrie and Durant to bring a championship to Brooklyn. I rate the signing an A+.
D-NBA 