Brooklyn Nets: Who is the third-best player on the Nets’ roster?

With the additions of Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets look to be prime contenders. The only question now: who is their third-best player?

The Brooklyn Nets were one of the many teams who got shaken up in the 2019 off-season. After Kevin Durant got snubbed from breaking his own news on his ESPN show The Boardroom, by the great Adrian Wojnarowski, and Kyrie Irving announced he was leaving that toxic Boston Celitcs environment for Brooklyn, it was clear the Nets were going all in.

Kyrie and Durant were set to form one of the league’s best duos. It was well known that Durant would not participate in the 2019-2020 season, after the gruesome injury to his Achilles tendon in Game 5 of the NBA finals, which helped seal the deal for a Toronto Raptors championship.

Irving, however, after only playing 67 regular season games in his last season with the Celtics, was expected to be the sole-all-star for Brooklyn this year. This left a lot of questions as to who would be Irving’s second fiddle while awaiting Durant’s return.

Well, that question quickly turned into who would be the leader of the Brooklyn Nets, after it was officially stated that Irving would be shut down with season-ending shoulder surgery.

Both Irving and Durant are expected to be set for a return in the 2020-2021 season, and we will finally be able to see two of the most skilled NBA players take the court together.

Although as we’ve seen in past years, it often takes three high-caliber players to lead a team to the Larry O’Brien. Toronto had Kawhi Leonard, Pascal Siakam, and Kyle Lowry, the Golden State Warriors had their quartet of all-stars, and the Cleveland Cavaliers took home the first-ever Cleveland title with LeBron James, Kevin Love, and Kyrie Irving.

This makes you wonder, who can be the Chris Bosh or Kevin Love of the 2021 Brooklyn Nets? Which player is capable of potentially leading the team in scoring one night, but on others, hide in the shadows of the other two. It takes a player with the right talent, skillset, and mindset to fill this role.

If you ask Irving and Durant, they would probably say their good buddy DeAndre Jordan. They sure played a role in getting him paid like one. Jordan is guaranteed as the fourth highest-paid player on the current roster and is under contract up to his age-34 season.

This question has three potential answers, and you could honestly make a case for all of them.