The national perception of the Nets’ need for a third star in Brooklyn changed significantly by the end of seeding play in the Disney bubble.
With the depleted Nets finishing 5-3, nearly earning a sixth win in their final game against the Portland Trail Blazers, all eyes were on Caris LeVert as he earned NBA All-Seeding Games Second Team honors.
But he didn’t only receive praise from the national media or Portland Trail Blazers guard Damian Lillard. LeVert’s teammates who couldn’t make the trip to Orlando were happy for the 26-year-old.
Now, Spencer Dinwiddie has long said LeVert is Brooklyn’s third star, behind Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving. But no one else has put that label on him — until Kevin Durant was asked about it on JJ Redick’s “The Old Man & the Three” podcast, to which Brooklyn’s superstar said, “for sure.”
Though, Durant thinks the era of Big 3’s is at and end, for now at least, citing the Los Angeles Lakers and Clippers as examples of why.
Still, he thinks LeVert is Nets’ third-best guy and fits that role perfectly:
The best teams in the league usually got two guys. The Lakers, the Clippers — Clippers got two bench players that are pretty good. They usually got two stars. I think Caris is perfect for us to — any given night he can lead us in scoring or lead us in assists or he can run the offense or we can go to him in the post with a matchup. I feel like he has the tools to do everything on the basketball court. On our team, we play unselfishly and we got guys that can play off the basketball. So, any given night, anybody can be the star.
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