Caris LeVert just can’t stop notching career-highs. In the first game of the season, he tied a career-high with 27 points. Not content to merely tie a career-high, he then came out in this game and set a new career-high with 28, the final two points coming on a game-winning shot with a second left on the clock. At this rate, he will be granted access into the mystical Hall of the Thirty-Point Scorers approximately two games from now.
I’m trying to figure out if Caris has already staged a forcible takeover of the team or if he is simply getting ready for such a takeover. Going into the season, I would have said that D’Angelo Russell was theoretically “the man”, but now I’m not sure who “the man” is. It could be LeVert. Maybe it is LeVert right now. Maybe it’s always been LeVert and I just wasn’t paying enough attention to realize it.
One thing that I’m confident in saying is that LeVert will now have the confidence to go into games with the mindset that he is a bigtime scorer. I think he already had the confidence, but now that confidence isn’t just misplaced bravado. It reflects the reality of his scoring ability. And sometimes that confidence, plus the support of your teammates, is all it takes for a scoring talent for LeVert to turn from a role-player into a featured scorer and fringe star.
In case you were wondering, yes, it does physically pain me to be so optimistic about a player. Part of me hopes that he scores six points on 1-of-13 shooting with four free throws next game so that I can be pessimistic about him again.