This was Caris LeVert for the past month. At the facility in practice gear, but only shooting alone at a basket. He hasn’t been able to be like the rest of his teammates and go through practice, learn the new system and the tendencies of the newcomers due to back tightness.

He’s walked through team drills, but LeVert had not been a full participant in practice until Tuesday. Following a regular scan on his back, after a pre-season CT scan revealed “an issue,” LeVert received clearance on Monday to ramp up his activity level even further.

At Monday’s shootaround, he was shooting alone with Obim Okeke, a basketball intern who was a walk-on guard for Baylor University’s national championship team. Player development assistant Jannero Pargo then joined them for shooting work around the hoop.

By Tuesday, after the Pacers lost to the Bucks to drop to 1-3 to begin the season, LeVert was in a good mood for obvious reasons. “What’s going on, y’all?” he said.