The Brooklyn Nets locked up another member of their young core by signing forward Caris LeVert to a three-year contract extension worth $52.5 million.
LeVert, 25, will have the extension kick in beginning the 2021 season where he will make $16.2 million, $17.5 in 2022, and $18.8 million during the final year of the extension.
The Nets look primed to be one of the best teams in the eastern conference over the next couple of years with players like Kevin Durant, Kyrie Irving, Spencer Dinwiddie, DeAndre Jodan, and now LeVert looking to usher in a new era for Brooklyn.
LeVert entered the league in 2016 when he was drafted in the first round by the Nets out of the University of Michigan. Even though he played only 42 games last season due to an ankle injury, he showed promise for the Nets in limited action.
LeVert was averaging a tick under 13 points-per-game before he was sidelined for the rest of the 2018-2019 season.
The contract extension shows that General Manager Sean Marks, and the rest of the Nets brass, believes LeVert can be a crucial cog for the team going forward. The team also believes LeVert will be able to recover fully from his ankle injury, and build on what was his best season in the NBA up until his injury.
The extension LeVert received was a well-deserved one because he improved during all three years of his career. With the ballooning of salaries in the NBA, getting LeVert for an average salary of slightly over $17 million/year will seem like a bargain when it kicks in beginning the 2021 season.
The extension also gives LeVert a sense of security and will allow him to focus on recovering fully from his injury, and trying to help lead the Nets to their first NBA Championship in franchise history.
LeVert should also see an increased role this season for head coach Kenny Atkinson’s squad with marquee free agent Kevin Durant being unable to play for the majority of the year, if he is even able to play at all. Durant suffered a torn Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals which put his 2019-2020 season in serious doubt.
If LeVert is able to build off last season, and fill in admirably during the absence of Durant, he will more than outplay the salary the Nets will be paying him this season and going forward.
During the 2019-2020 season, LeVert will make just over $2.6 million.
The Nets rewarded LeVert for his steady improvement all throughout his NBA career, and he will be staying in Brooklyn for the foreseeable future.
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