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Report: Caris LeVert, Nets Agree to 3-Year, $52.5M Contract Extension
August 26, 2019
Caris LeVert has earned a huge raise on his 25th birthday, agreeing to a three-year, $52.5 million extension with the Brooklyn Nets on Sunday, according to Adrian Wojnarowski of ESPN.
The new deal counts will kick in for the 2020-21 season.
The guard is set to make $2.6 million in 2019-20, his highest salary in four years in the NBA, per Spotrac. He would have been a restricted free agent in 2020 if the two sides couldn't agree on a new deal.
Bobby Marks of ESPN provided a breakdown of the player's salary:
Bobby Marks @BobbyMarks42The three-year cap hit on the $52.5M Caris LeVert extension is $16.2M, $17.5M and $18.8M. The first-year salary in 2020-21 will rank no. 15 among all shooting guards. The $17.5M per year average ranks only behind Rudy Gobert ($22.5M) for a player who... https://t.co/zMF60KCU7C
LeVert is coming off an up-and-down 2018-19 season where he set a career high with 13.7 points per game but played only 40 games while dealing with a foot injury.
He averaged 18.4 points per game in 14 appearances before spending almost three months on the sidelines. He mostly came off the bench after returning, but his performance to begin the year showed off his excellent potential:
A team-high average of 21 points per game in the first round of the playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers also proved his upside.
The Nets were one of the big winners of the offseason while adding Kyrie Irving, Kevin Durant and DeAndre Jordan through free agency. Though Durant is recovering from a torn Achilles, the franchise is set up for the future with Spencer Dinwiddie, Jarrett Allen and now LeVert under contract for at least the next couple of years.
Brooklyn also now has $121 million worth of salary committed for 2020-21 and could face the luxury tax, per Wojnarowski.
It’s a special best-of episode of The Full 48 featuring three of Howard Beck’s favorite interviews of the last 12 months including NBA Commissioner Adam Silver who discusses everything from the possible legalization of marijuana use in the league to NBA age limits; Brooklyn Nets guard Joe Harris who shares the best nicknames he’s heard since growing his beard to the Nets success to the childhood goals that still grace the walls of his old bedroom in his parents’ house; and the great Kareem Abdul-Jabbar who weighs in on the Michael Jordan GOAT debate, LeBron James, and the rebirth of athlete activism.