With Kevin Durant (hard to remember that he actually signed with the Nets, I know) sidelined indefinitely, it is up to Caris “Baby Durant” LeVert to surpass his nickname and play not only like a 6-month old version of Durant, but like the actual fully-grown version of Durant. Or at least the college version. There are no other persons on the roster who are so uniquely suited to replacing Durant’s production.
Rhetorical question: can you replace something that never existed at all?
I’ve never really been a fan of the “Baby Durant” nickname for LeVert, because it simply isn’t that good of a comparison. Unless something changed when he got to the league, LeVert has never been even close to the shooter that Durant is. If he was, he’d be an All-Star. And he doesn’t match the physical profile either. So where did this comparison come from. From the fact that he could get tons of buckets at lower levels of competition? Then why not call him “Baby LeBron” or “Baby Scalabrine”?
Well, in this game, I’d say he did a good job of standing in for what Durant could theoretically be providing, as he put up 27 points which is totally something that Durant would totally do if he wasn’t totally out for the whole god-damn season. Sometimes I pretend to champion the cause of the role-player (though LeVert is coming dangerously close to leaving that designation behind), but man, seeing Durant on basically his own team was sounding like a ton of fun until the Warriors had to go and sabotage him so that no one else could enjoy his endless cascade of primo midrange jimbos.