Caris LeVert learned very important lesson from Jamal Crawford

Caris LeVert has been compared to Jamal Crawford for as long as he can remember.

As if it wasn’t enough that he went on to attend Crawford’s alma mater, Michigan, LeVert and the veteran guard also wound up being teammates briefly when Crawford signed with the Brooklyn Nets as a substitute player for the NBA’s restart of the 2019-20 season.

Unfortunately, Crawford only logged one six-minute appearance due to injury. But the guard didn’t need to be on the floor to share some knowledge with the 26-year-old wing.

LeVert was asked what he learned from the veteran while in the Disney bubble during his appearance on The Ringer’s “R2C2” podcast with CC Sabathia and Ryan Ruocco.

“Winning,” LeVert said, simply. He then elaborated:

Growing up, I’ve always prioritized winning and I’ve always looked at myself as a winner. To him, it’s all about winning. And you would think, he’s such a flashy player — he’s got the handles, the jump shot — you would think, ‘Oh he doesn’t;t really care.’ That’s all he cares about, is winning. When he was young, he was around Michel Jordan a lot, so I think that’s where he got it from. [Crawford] said Mike was always about winning.

He told me a story, one time, they had pick-up in the summer and him and Mike didn’t lose a game the whole summer. So with him, everything is winning. We’ll do shooting competitions and he’ll beat me and he’ll remind me of it later in the day, later that night. Everything is literally about winning. Any young player that goes into a situation, you’re thinking about scoring, you’re thinking about starting, but I think your greatness is going to be tied to winning. And I think Jamal is somebody who really embodies that’s and really lives by that for sure.

LeVert and Crawford’s time as teammates may not be done yet. According to Marc Spears of The Undefeated, the Nets are expected to re-sign Crawford.