Many circled the Brooklyn Nets as a potential surprise playoff team this season, but they’ll likely have to try to accomplish that goal without one of their premier players.
Third-year guard Caris LeVert was carted off the Target Center floor Monday night after sustaining a gruesome leg injury in the closing seconds of the Nets’ matchup with the Minnesota Timberwolves. LeVert collided with T-Wolves guard Jeff Teague after taking to the air in an attempted chase-down block before awkwardly crashing to the floor.
You can watch the scene unfold here, but as you can imagine, the nature of the clip is graphic.
Brooklyn ultimately fell 120-113 to close out its four-game road trip, but LeVert’s health took precedence over the final score.
“There was really just no words,” Joe Harris said, per ESPN’s Malika Andrews. “We didn’t talk even when we came in at halftime. There was nothing to be said. Guys were crying. It was really that horrific just to see.”
LeVert was off to a fine start to the 2018-19 campaign, averaging a team-high 18.4 points per game. While it will be a long road to recovery for the 24-year-old, his head coach has the utmost confidence he’ll bounce back.
“He had a fantastic start to the season,” Kenny Atkinson said. “He’s obviously made a huge jump. I just know that if anybody is coming back from this — the human, the character, the person, the player — he’ll come back from this. But a tough, tough blow for the Nets. Our only thoughts are with him. Nothing else matters. The game doesn’t matter tonight.”
LeVert was taken to a nearby hospital via ambulance after sustaining the injury, per ESPN. And luckily for the young swingman, he somehow managed to avoid a serious injury.
The Nets, of course, will miss LeVert while he’s out of action, but based on the latest update, it sounds like he might return when Brooklyn needs him most.
