Despite fluid role, Caris LeVert stays bought in with Cavaliers

For the vast majority of his career, Caris LeVert has been ahigh-usage player. With the ball in his hands, he puts pressure ondefenses primarily as a downhill scorer and distributor. Hisunorthodox methods and pull-up abilities make him one of the mostefficient isolation threats in the NBA.

This season, however, the Cleveland Cavaliers have asked muchmore of LeVert, who’s bringing a different kind of value that can’tbe quantified: sacrifice and adaptability.

“The biggest challenge would probably be trying to adjustgame-by-game depending on who's playing, matchups on the otherside. Sometimes I've played the 4, I've never done that in lifebefore,” LeVert told Basketball News following the Cavs’ win overthe San Antonio Spurs on Monday night. “So just playing differentpositions, just staying ready for different roles.

“It's been pretty tough, but I think on the flip side, we're asuper talented team. We're obviously on the winning side of thingsmore times than not, so it's definitely fun to be on that side ofit 'cause I've been on the other side of it too, where guys aren'tnecessarily playing to win and playing for stats. Here, it'scompletely different, so I think that's definitely been aplus."

Instead of moving him at the trade deadline as some expected dueto his expiring $18.8 million contract, Cavs president Koby Altmanand his front office held onto LeVert. Altman made it knownpublicly how much he appreciates the 28-year-old’s contributionsand dedication to the team’s vision, even going as far as sharingthe franchise’s interest in a potential contract extension thissummer.

“The thing that really speaks to me is, and I'm a softy forthis, but guys that really want to be here,” Altman said last week.“Guys that show up every day to work, that have a great attitude,that whatever their role is — and he had to take a substantial stepback, be a sixth-man type when he could be starting in the NBA on alot of different teams — and being like, 'I want to make this work.I want to be here.' That's meaningful to me, that's meaningful tothis organization and it's a big reason why he's here."

Asked about sticking around after the 3 p.m. buzzer sounded,LeVert was just glad not to be on the move for the third straightdeadline.

“It's cool to, I guess, have a home for the rest of the season,not have to pack up and go somewhere else,” LeVert admitted. “I'vedone that the past two seasons. It's very stressful to do that andhectic, so it's cool to be with this group and finish the seasonout and see how far we can go.

“The vibes are pretty high. Winning does that. You know, you wina lot of games... we're around each other, sh**, more than we arewith our families. So obviously, you're gonna get really close to agroup when you win a lot of games.”