Nets: Vince Carter has surprise pick for who could be BK’s ‘third star’

Former Nets great Vince Carter made a surprise pick as to who be Brooklyn’s third star in 2020-21.

There seem to be two prominent debates that have engulfed Brooklyn Nets fans thus far this offseason: Does the team believe it already has a third star? And, if they don’t, who would be worth sacrificing members of the young core for in a potential trade?

What burning question that hasn’t garnered enough attention, however, is who will start at center for the Nets next season: veteran big man and KD/Kyrie accompanist DeAndre Jordan or Jarrett Allen?

Well, in an interview with the New York Daily News, former Nets great Vince Carter seemingly answered all of those questions. As crazy as it sounds, the former eight-time All-Star made a surprise pick as to who Brooklyn’s third star is in doing so.

According to Carter, Jordan himself, and not Caris LeVert or Spencer Dinwiddie, can be the Nets’ tertiary standout behind Kyrie Irving and Kevin Durant.

"“I just feel like you have to find the right pieces if you’re gonna go get a third scorer,” Carter said. “If you’re gonna go get three guys who really demand the ball, that gets tough after a while. One if not two guys of your big three tend to become unhappy sometimes. If they buy into that, then it’s a possibility. If they don’t…You just have three big names who really can’t co-exist because they all want to be alpha dogs.”“You’ve gotta be careful. It’s a slippery slope when you’re putting guys together,” Carter told The Daily News. “I feel like you could have a third star in somebody like DeAndre Jordan who can shine. He’s not somebody who’s gonna get a lot of touches, but what does he do? He puts a lot of pressure on the defense going to the rim.”"

Carter makes a valid point in saying that the Nets and general manager Sean Marks need to be careful in navigating a potential trade for another potent scorer. However, we don’t entirely agree with his coronation of Jordan as the supposed third star.

For starters, Carter’s arguments about Jordan’s defensive prowess and shot-altering ability can be directly applied to Allen, who averaged more points (11.1) and blocks per game (1.3) than his running mate. With all due respect to Allen, nobody is projecting him to be Brooklyn’s third most important player next season.

That’s obviously not to say Jordan couldn’t become a difference maker for the Nets, but we’re talking about a player who’s past the prime of his career and has dealt with injuries in each of the last three seasons. At 32 years old, Jordan simply isn’t the tenacious game-breaker who lived above the rim with the Los Angeles Clippers at the beginning of his pro career.

Again, we love Jordan (and Carter), but the latter is way off in saying the former second-round pick will be Brooklyn’s third star in 2020-21. He’ll undoubtedly play a major role, but we would give that mantle to Caris LeVert, who proved in the bubble — where he averaged 24.0 points, 5.1 rebounds and 5.9 assists on 45.5% shooting — that he can be an integral component to a team with championship aspirations.

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