What a devastating, season-altering loss for the Nets in Minnesota on Monday night.
I'm not talking about the outcome, a 120-113 Timberwolves victory. Rather, it was the gruesome injury suffered by Nets wing Caris LeVert, a player whom coach Kenny Atkinson called "the heart and soul of the program" after the game, that had many on Brooklyn's sideline in near tears when it occurred.
With three seconds remaining in the first half, LeVert went up to contest a Josh Okogie transition opportunity. LeVert landed awkwardly on top of Okogie, his right leg crumpling.
LeVert had to be carted off on a stretcher. The fear, judging from everyone's reactions on site, was that this was season-ending, at least. But the Nets said Tuesday that LeVert has been diagnosed with subtalar dislocation of the right foot. No surgery is needed, and he is expected to return this season.
While that's obviously good news, the Nets must adjust to life without LeVert for a while.
In his third NBA season, LeVert, 24, was ascending to a new, significantly higher level. Before getting stifled by the Warriors on Saturday night, the Nets' 2016 first-round pick (20th overall, courtesy of the Thaddeus Young trade to Indiana) was averaging 20.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, 4.0 assists and 1.4 steals per game, numbers matched only by All Stars LeBron James, James Harden, Russell Westbrook, Anthony Davis, Paul George, Victor Oladipo and Jimmy Butler.
More impressive was LeVert's effectiveness in clutch situations, an area in which Brooklyn struggled mightily last season. After a key turnover in the closing seconds of a season-opening loss in Detroit, LeVert subsequently hit game-winners against the Knicks and Nuggets in similar situations. He was 8-of-13 (61.5 percent) from the floor in 33 clutch minutes, as defined by NBA.com.
While his 3-point shooting percentage (31.1 percent) had room for improvement, he was fifth in the league in points per drive and sixth in total points off drives.
"(LeVert) is just hard to guard one-on-one," Sixers coach Brett Brown said prior to his club's 122-97 loss to Brooklyn on Nov. 4. "He's got the ability to dance, like he really is slippery, is quick. You certainly have to game plan for him. I think he is a sort of poster child -- a good example of what the (Nets') program is trying to grow and style of play they're trying to play with."
LeVert was even making strides on defense, hounding Suns star Devin Booker and the Nuggets' Gary Harris into shooting a combined 7-of-32 from the floor as the Nets opened their four-game road trip with a pair of wins to boost their record to 6-6.
Just three days later, the euphoria from LeVert's spectacular finish in Denver has been replaced by agony.
I do know this: The Nets engage with top-notch medical professionals, including those at the Hospital for Special Surgery, and that LeVert will work his tail off in his rehabilitation to get back on the court. He's already gone through this type of process -- he had three foot surgeries in college at Michigan.
LeVert took that dedication to Brooklyn, where he would have been declared the winner of an informal poll of his Nets teammates as to whom worked the hardest to improve his game last offseason. Unfortunately, those gains appear to have come to a screeching halt.
In the meantime, the Nets will, of course, have to move forward without their budding star, starting with Wednesday's home tilt versus Miami. In order to remain competitive, Atkinson is going to have to ride guards D'Angelo Russell and Spencer Dinwiddie much longer than he's used to.
Russell, who set a career high with nine 3-pointers in a 31-point performance, played 33 minutes Monday, the second most he's played this season. However, the game was lost, in my opinion, when Atkinson kept Russell on the bench too long after Dinwiddie picked up his fourth foul with four minutes remaining in the third quarter. The T-Wolves swiftly turned a tie game into an eight-point lead with Shabazz Napier as the Nets' sole ballhandler on the court.
The Nets, who also played without center Jarrett Allen (illness), honored LeVert by hanging around within striking distance, but without their best striker, they didn't have enough to overcome Minnesota's superior size and talent.
As for Nets general manager Sean Marks' timeline, I'm not sure LeVert's injury changes anything. As evidenced by his decision (correct, in my opinion) to not cave into Minnesota's demands for Butler, he is not going to "skip steps" in this rebuild. In other words, don't expect any panic reinforcements for LeVert from the outside.
On the flipside, Marks might revisit some sort of stealth "tanking" if, in a few months, this season goes off the rails without LeVert. The Nets, for the first time since 2013, will have their own first-round pick in June. They also have some intriguing pieces for contenders, including guys on expiring contracts such as Russell, Dinwiddie. DeMarre Carroll and Rondae Hollis-Jefferson, a versatile defender who was forced to play center in Allen's absence Monday. Again, I don't expect any selloffs in the near-term.
A bevy of players around the league expressed their condolences upon hearing the news on LeVert. Unfortunately, those same opponents won't be feeling sorry for the Nets on game nights.
In an instant, a potential feel-good story in Brooklyn turned into a horror show.
For a FAN's perspective of the Nets, Devils and Jets, follow Steve on Twitter @SteveLichtenst1.
