How Caris LeVert’s injury affects his NBA Draft stock

Caris LeVert has had a very difficult 2016. The senior guard, who came back to Michigan after forgoing the 2015 NBA Draft, has been dealing with a left foot injury for the last couple of months. The injury has been referred to as a “left lower leg injury,” and it’s been something troubling LeVert since a Dec. 30 win against Illinois. He missed 11 games to start the new year, briefly returned for an 11-minute stint in a Feb. 13 win against Purdue, and reportedly suffered a setback in that game, which led to the decision to shut things down for the season and look towards the 2016 NBA Draft.

Michigan’s been very tight-lipped about LeVert’s injury, and we don’t know exactly what he’s dealing with, making it hard to truly assess how much this affects him as he moves forward in the draft process. John Beilein’s been consistent in not providing a timetable for LeVert’s return, and the circumstances of his setback against Purdue are unknown as well. It’s a very difficult situation to monitor, and one that, while not directly suspicious, could make NBA teams skeptical of LeVert.

The major issue we do know that this causes is that it’s now the third injury LeVert’s suffered during his Michigan career to that left lower leg and foot. LeVert originally suffered a small stress fracture in the foot at the tail end of the 2013-14 season, and he spent the summer of 2014 rehabilitating and recovering from the surgery that was needed to repair the bone. However, he began to deal with similar symptoms during the 2014-15 season, and ultimately needed to be shut down for the season after a Jan. 17 win over Northwestern, when it was found that a stress reaction had resulted in a complete fracture of the same bone.

Now, LeVert faces more significant time away from basketball for an injury to the same leg.

Time will likely tell how serious this third injury is. If it is a similar stress reaction to what he experienced in his foot, that’s a big deal — after all, Bradley Beal is facing a prolonged minutes restriction for his ongoing bone stress-related issues, and foot and ankle stress fractures have a history of leading to future problems for NBA players. The foot and ankle are the first body parts to absorb the stresses of activities like running and jumping, which are only slightly important in basketball. Stress fractures lead to breakdowns in the bony supports of those joints, and that can lead to poor stress dissipation at these joints that lead to things like Achilles issues or ankle sprains.

In LeVert’s case, this presents a serious question of whether his body can hold up against an NBA schedule. Suffering multiple stress-related injuries during a college season does create doubt about whether he will face similar issues during an NBA season, which is longer and has less breaks than a typical college player will see. Unfortunately, that’s not something LeVert’s going to be able to prove he can do until he does it, and this will likely affect his draft stock even if he can get healthy in time for the NBA Draft Combine and workouts.

LeVert needed those workouts to help his stock, anyway, and now they’re even more important. Injury issues aside, there are questions about LeVert’s game as it relates to NBA play. Most prominently is strength, which he has had issues with on both ends of the floor, both in finishing inside and defending bigger wings. He projects as a combo guard, but he’s potentially too slight of frame to comfortably handle defending shooting guards, and while he appears to have greatly improved his outside shooting this year (44.6 percent from 3-point range), LeVert lacks a good off-the-dribble game that would allow him to be a fully functional point guard. He appears to be a bit of a tweener guard, and workouts will help if he can show strong off-the-dribble shooting and improved strength and quickness.

LeVert started the year projected as a mid-1st round prospect, but with the recent news has slid into second round consideration on many draft boards. Where he finds himself in May and June during workouts will be very interesting, because if a team feels confident in his recovery, he could make a nice 3-and-D wing with some development. However, losing most of the last two seasons with multiple stress-related injuries is a scary proposition, and LeVert will likely have a lot to prove before he’s an NBA player.