Caris LeVert not looking at Brooklyn departure from a basketball standpoint

Caris LeVert’s physical from the James Harden trade revealed he has more important things to deal with than basketball right now.

James Harden almost didn’t make his Nets debut on Saturday against the Orlando Magic through no fault of his own. All parties involved in the trade had agreed upon the deal, but the player physicals process had not been completed. The delay was because of Caris LeVert.

“I hadn’t missed any games this season yet,” the new Indiana Pacers said on a video call Tuesday, per the Associated Press. “I was 100% healthy.”

But the trade, in fact, revealed something was off with LeVert. After the trade went through, Indiana announced LeVert would be out indefinitely “after an MRI revealed a small mass on his left kidney during a physical prior to finalizing the four-team trade.”

“In a way this trade showed and revealed what was going on in my body,” he said. “So I’m definitely looking at it from that side and definitely humbled to know that that this trade could have saved me in the long run.”

“A lot of things creeped through my mind. I really didn’t know what was going on. I didn’t know the next steps, I didn’t know if the trade was going to go through. Obviously, it did and I think that’s a testament to this organization and not only how good of people they are but how much they believe in me. That was huge for me. I just can’t wait to get healthy and get back on the court.”

LeVert was in the building for Pacers practice on Wednesday, however, the team has not provided an update on when he’ll get back to game action.

“To me, the most important thing is to get my body healthy and make sure I live a long life,” he said. “I’m not really looking at that [basketball] side of things right now. Obviously, I want to play as soon as possible. I’m a competitor. I love to play the game. But I think health wise, that’s the most important thing. As far as time line, we’ll figure that out in the future, but right now we just don’t have those answers.”

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