Last fall, Brooklyn Nets guard Caris LeVert was playing the best basketball of his careeruntil November 12, when he dislocated his foot in a game against the Minnesota Timberwolves. It was an injury far too gruesome to show on replay, the kind involving a mangled extremity that causes teammates and opponents to collectively shake their heads in disbelief while the crowd sits in absolute silence. (Seriously, dont Google it.) Except, LeVert remembers, it didnt actually hurt that much. At first.
I was more mad than anything, he says. I wasnt even thinking of the pain, which was probably partially adrenaline and disbelief. It didnt hit me until we got in the ambulance 15 minutes after they carted me off the court, and my trainer was talking to metrying to distract me. Next thing I know, theyre jerking my foot, and thats when I realized, Oh, this is real. That moment was the worst pain Ive ever felt.
Remarkably, after doctors popped LeVerts foot back into place, no surgery was required. He missed three months, but returned to action in February. He had an (understandably) up-and-down remainder of the season, but capped it off with an impressive performance in the first round of the playoffs against the Philadelphia 76ers.
This offseason, LeVert prioritized strengthening his foot and ankle by employing a variety of balancing drills, while also squeezing in a healthy amount of hooping. LeVert logged four-a-days: two on-the-court workouts and two off-the-court workouts. Thats an encouraging development for Nets fans hoping hell emerge as the teams second star this season, behind Kyrie Irving (and third star next season when Kevin Durant presumably returns after suffering a ruptured Achilles.)
A few weeks ago, I spoke to LeVert about the full extent of his offseason routine, recent changes to his diet, and his affection for float tanks. At the time of our conversation, LeVert was gearing up for his first-ever trip to China as part of a preseason double-header against the Los Angeles Lakers, and Houston Rockets general manager Daryl Morey had yet to fire off his fateful tweet about Hong Kong. LeVert said he was looking forward to the overseas experience, which presumably became a bit more complicated than originally anticipated.
GQ: Can you walk me through a normal day for you this offseason?
Caris LeVert: I took about two weeks off after we lost to the 76ers in the playoffs. After that, I started my workouts here in Brooklyn. First, Id get some breakfast inusually two or three eggs, some veggies like broccoli, and I love oatmeal in the morning, too. Id head to the gym around 9 a.m. to do a 30-minute lift. We call those correctives, where youre more working on balance drills, hamstrings, and core work. The Nets are big on that. The corrective workout isnt your typical lift, but it helps strengthen your little muscles.
Then, Id have an hour-and-a-half workout on the court, and after that is a bigger upper- or lower-body lift. Id get some treatment, do some more balance drills to strengthen my ankle back up. Then Id usually go home and take a nap, chill for a couple hours, and head back to the gym later that night and get a bunch of shots up.
Have you always stuck to a healthy-sounding diet?
No, thats been the biggest adjustment the past couple of years: I wasnt really very educated on what makes up a healthy diet. In college, I would eat a lot of Five Guys and burgers. Everybody eats differently, but thats not the best for your digestive system, and Ive learned that over the years. Now I stay away from pork, beef, and things like that. I stick to chicken a couple times a week, and I eat a lot of fish and veggies. I dont really like fruit, so I drink a lot of smoothies to get my fruit intake up.
Yeah, Ive seen that the Nets are big on pre-game fruit smoothies.
Weve got a couple smoothie-makers. Ill drink one on game days, and then any other day, if you ask for one, youll get it. I think as Ive matured and learned more about food, Ive stopped eating as much for taste. I eat and drink based on what I need in my body. Usually my smoothies have strawberries, bananas, some sort of vegetable, a protein powder, almond milk, honey, blueberries, and sometimes orange juice.
Whats the one thing you still sneak in when you can?
Chocolate chip cookies. I cant go too long without having one. Theyve gotta be homemade, straight out of the oven. I dont like the store-bought stuff. They need to be crispy on the outside, soft on the inside.
I read that you eat Chipotle five times a week. True or false?
True, though Im sad to say me and Chipotle have cut ties a little bit. I got sick eating while training in LA over the summer, and Im not positive, but I think it was Chipotle, so I havent had it since. It was definitely tough at first, but Im doing alright now, starting to get used to not eating it every day.
I wrote a hot take essay for GQ where I proudly proclaimed that Qdoba is better than Chipotle, so this is an issue near and dear to my heart. Are you familiar with Qdoba?
I am, and wow, I disagree with that statement. I know a lot of people think that, though, so I dont know if its even a hot take. Maybe its a Midwest thing, but in high school and college, people really liked Qdoba more than Chipotle. To each their own.
You weighed 162 pounds when you arrived at Michigan in 2012. Were you getting thrown around at practice your freshman year?
Honestly, I wasnt. I was so used to playing at that size that I adjusted to it. People probably werent used to seeing someone that small. Playing in the Big 10 was definitely an adjustment though. Unlike a lot of other conferences, its very physical and defense-based. I feel like at a lot of other conferences, everybody scores 80 or 90 points a game, but Big 10 scoring was in the 40s when I was there. I definitely had to bulk up. Some of that happened naturally, but I had a great strength coach too who prepared me for the next level. Going into my sophomore season, I was up to 190, 195. I stayed at Michigan through the summers when people went home and dedicated all my time to my body and my game, and it paid off for me.
One of the many, many reasons I did not advance past high school basketball: I avoided the weight room like the plague. How was your workout regimen growing up?
My high school coach my junior and senior year was a man named Jerry Francis. He played basketball at Ohio State and is one of their all-time great players. He started to get us in the weight room, and I hated the weight room. Wed go in there and Id act like I was doing stuff, but I really wasnt. Id do a pull-up here, maybe a bench press there, but I wanted to play basketball. I was not dedicated to the weight room. He changed my mindset and pushed me on that, which I appreciate him for. But back then, I really didnt want to be there.
Youve had to deal with a couple annoying and painful injuries over the years. Do you practice any relaxation techniques or meditation so you dont go stir crazy during those rehab periods?
Ive been doing headspace stuff since before I had any of those injuries. [John Beilein, current Cleveland Cavaliers coach and former Michigan Wolverines coach] actually brought someone in who taught that stuff to us, and Ive carried it with me ever since. I do meditation and visualization before every game. I do things like the float tank, which helps me get into that mindframe of calmness. I take that really seriously.
How long does a float tank session last?
As long as you want it to, but I usually do an hour. You go into a podits kind of like The Matrix. The first time I did it, I was a little skeptical, because Im claustrophobic. You put headphones on, you dont hear anything, and its pitch-black. Its just you and your thoughts. I use that time for meditation, focusing on breathing and visualization. I do that once or twice a week during the season, and it relaxes me.
Steph Curry ranked the Nets popcorn selection second-best in the league. Have you tried it?
Nah, Im not a big popcorn guy. Ive heard its fire, though.
For a while, I know PB&Js were all the rage in the NBA.
I used to eat a bunch of those my rookie year. Charlotte had the best PB&Jsthey had them toasted or something like that. But I dont really eat that anymore. At halftime now Ill eat, like, pineapples. Just trying to stay consistent with it, you know?
This interview has been edited and condensed for clarity.
Real-Life Diet is a series in which GQ talks to athletes, celebrities, and everyone in-between about their diets and exercise routines: what's worked, what hasn't, and where they're still improving. Keep in mind, what works for them might not necessarily be healthy for you.
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