Caris LeVert was cruising along as one of the top players on a loaded Brooklyn Nets team, averaging 18.5ppg playing along side megastars Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving.
But a recent surprise blockbuster trade sent the promising young player to the Indiana Pacers. Standard operating procedure includes having a player’s new team conduct a physical – that physical may have saved LeVert’s life.
The physical revealed a mass had formed on his left kidney. LeVert does not yet know if the mass is cancerous or what the treatment will be going forward. What he does know, however, is that he’s thankful because without the trade or the physical, he wouldn’t have known about the mass.
“I didn’t have any symptoms. I was playing in games. I hadn’t missed any games this season yet. I was feeling 100 percent healthy,” he told reporters, according to Sports Spectrum.
“So, in a way, this trade definitely showed and revealed what was going on in my body; so I’m definitely looking at it from that side and definitely humbled to know that this trade could’ve possibly saved me in the long run.”
According to the Indy Star, there are a couple possibilities as to what the mass could be.
Masses are broken down into two categories, a solid or a cyst. A solid means the mass has tissue and a blood supply. A cyst means the mass is filled with fluid.
Cysts are generally benign. According to Dr. Clinton Bahler, a urologist with IU Health, a solid mass could be cause for concern. Bahler has not examined LeVert and could only speak in general about the condition.
LeVert has spoken about his faith previously, discussing how he relied on God during a previous basketball injury. “I just feel like God wouldn’t bring me this far to let something like that stop me from playing in the game,” he said last February. “I always feel like I’m supposed to be where I am. That was just a roadblock to get me from where I wanna go.”
He also told ESPN about his faith and trust in a higher power. “I have a lot of faith in God. I know that everything is not perfect, but I feel like, in life, it’s just how you react to certain things. It’s not what happens to you.”