Option 2: A return to starting status, with a shift
DeMarre Carroll started all 73 games in which he played for the Brooklyn Nets last season and put up career-high numbers with 13.5 points, 6.6 rebounds and 2.0 assists in a team-high 29.9 minutes per game.
His shooting wasn’t lights-out, but it was solid and stretchy enough at .414/.371/.764.
Carroll started those games at the 3, where Joe Harris has started all 14 games this season thus far. But Carroll at the 3 makes for an easy shift of Harris to LeVert’s vacated spot at the 2.
In a position-less system, it’s really not that big a deal. Both players have the skill sets to make it work.
While LeVert was the go-to scorer for Brooklyn, he had also taken on a lot of defensive responsibility, most recently guarding Denver’s Gary Harris and Golden State’s Kevin Durant, with mixed results.
Carroll made his NBA reputation as a dogged defender on the wing and could take on that role with ease.
Coach Kenny Atkinson had been experimenting with Carroll as a 4 in the preseason, but given the options available to replace LeVert’s defensive impact on the wing, Carroll might be the best choice.