How does the Oladipo/LeVert trade impact the Indiana Pacers?

Caris LeVert’s On-Court Impact

26-year-old Caris LeVert in 12 games this season is averaging almost 19 points, five rebounds, six assists, and over a steal per game while mostly playing as the sixth man after the arrival of a healthy Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.

But in the four games that he has started this year, he has averaged a ridiculous 28.5 points, five rebounds, and over eight assists. While those games were driven by usage that he won’t be able to replicate on the Pacers, it does show the ceiling of what he can offer as a player.

LeVert has switched between SG and SF in his career and is listed at 6-foot-6 with a 6-foot-10 wingspan, which is two inches more than Oladipo in both measurements. This allows LeVert to more comfortably play SF, which is a massive benefit for a Pacers team that is lacking wing depth, but when the team is healthy will allow him to slide nicely into the Oladipo-sized hole in the starting lineup.

Another aspect of LeVert that will have an immediate impact is as an on-ball creator. His ability to create for himself in isolation and also be a great distributor should help alleviate the creation load on Malcolm Brogdon and Domantas Sabonis in the half-court. Considering he is coming from a Brooklyn situation where he was asked to be ready to lead the bench unit but also play alongside KD and Kyrie, I think he can be a good fit next to two higher usage players.

There are some negative impacts that jump out immediately as well. LeVert is not a great three-point shooter, which is partially why he is better suited as an on-ball player. He shot a league-average 36% from three last year, but shot just 31% on catch and shoot threes. This could lead to more off-ball opportunities for Brogdon with LeVert as the primary initiator, or a more staggered lineup to always have one of them on the floor at all, but that remains to be seen.

The last on-court impact from the trade is that the Pacers got a worse defensive player. Oladipo is a couple of years removed from his All-Defense nomination, but he was relied on to wreak havoc on the defensive end in a way that few players can match. LeVert is somewhere between average and slightly above average as a defender, and a change to the team’s approach to defense will likely be an ongoing process this season.

Now that we have an idea of what sort of impact LeVert makes on the court, what off the court implications are there after the big trade?