Caris LeVert would be a very popular Pacer if he could ever get healthy.
Pacers guard Caris LeVert has a stress fracture in his back.
The Pacers inability to stay healthy is sickening. I just can’t take it anymore. If I wanted to write about medical conditions, I would have gone to medical school or become a trainer.
Last year, Pacers starters lost 148 starts to injury, which equates to 41% of potential starts among Malcolm Brogdon, LeVert/Oladipo, Warren, Myles Turner, and Domas Sabonis. For those of you who are math-challenged, that’s just over two starters per game in street clothes.
I’m normally not so self-involved to conflate an athlete’s hardship with my own misery, but for the love of all that is holy, how hard is it to field a basketball team that can actually show up and play? Some of the Pacers health issues have had obvious uncontrollable external causes – like Paul George‘s grizzly lower leg fracture, but the majority are from various sprains and muscle pulls that have robbed the Pacers of productivity and wins.
Oladipo suffered an exceptionally rare quad tendon tear, and was then traded for LeVert, who was immediately diagnosed with a growth in his kidney. He fought back from that, and now has a stress fracture? I don’t even want to guess about the source of the next piece of bad news.
And will Warren’s foot ever heal?
LeVert was featured during yesterday’s Pacers Media session, and we heard nothing about his back. ESPN has spoken to a source who claims LeVert may be able to return around the beginning of the regular season in three weeks. Yeah, right. I’ll believe it when I see it.
That’s not a comment about LeVert, but the optimism teams always use to keep fans engaged. They tend to lean wildly optimistic, especially the crosstown Colts. Indy fans experienced the insanity surrounding Andrew Luck’s litany of injuries and optimism from management that he would be right back. They are still waiting.
LeVert seems to be a great guy in a place where his personality and ability to score should make him very popular – if he is ever at 100%. In the meantime, we wait for both he and Warren to find their way back to the court.
And the beatdowns go on.