Has the Power Dynamic Between the Lakers and Nuggets Changed? Is Austin Reaves Now a True "Third Star?"

There are a lot of ways to break down a roster, trying to figure out if it's "championship worthy." Obviously, the stars are key. Winning without one elite player, and sometimes more than one, is a challenge. But the rest of the guys matter, too. And while the "three star" era can mean a lot of different things to a lot of different people—starting with how "star" gets defined—there's no question that the quality of that third guy rightly gets a lot of attention. In related news, Austin Reaves has been on quite a heater of late, averaging over 30 points a game in his last four. It's reignited the conversation about where exactly Reaves fits in the leaguewide pantheon of "third options," and whether that's good enough for the Lakers as they get into the postseason. There are a lot of ways to look at it. Often, people ask if the third man is an All-Star. Well, Reaves isn't, and who knows when that might change. Making All-Star teams is incredibly difficult. But is he playing All-Star caliber ball? Yeah. Not just lately, but over the course of the season his numbers 19.6/4.5/6.0 are in the ballpark. His March stats (23.4/6.3/5.7, 39% 3-point shooting) even more so. So just on raw production, Reaves is pushing into higher levels among his peers. And on a post-Luka Dončić Lakers roster, Reaves gets even more of a boost. Now bumped down to the team's third ballhandler behind Luka and LeBron James, Reaves is free to attack more and play with greater defensive intensity. Meanwhile, he's smart enough to leverage the space those guys create to give himself better matchups and more opportunity. "How good is good enough?" becomes a different question when the third guy is playing with arguably two of the top 7 players in the league. (Luka is almost universally dropped in the top 5 when healthy, and LeBron almost always in the top 10. Still.) And Reaves has shown he's able to carry a team when he's needed, as well. It's in him. Can he do it like a top line star? No, but he likely won't be asked to in the playoffs more than maybe once a series. The rest of the time, it's about producing at the expected level. The bottom line is that Reaves just keeps getting better, and like all not-quite-star-stars, working in the orbit of truly elite players makes him more effective. Would Reaves be a leg on a "big three" for a different team? Maybe, maybe not. But that doesn't matter. He only needs to do it for the Lakers, and with all that in mind, there's little question he's good enough to be a third-best player on a championship team, if this is the team in question. HOSTS: Andy and Brian Kamenetzky SEGMENT 1: The Lakers are playing Denver tonight, and it feels different. SEGMENT 2: Why the matchup isn't what it was, in a good way for LA. SEGMENT 3 : Is AR a true third star? Your favorite podcast now has a newsletter! In One-stop for ultimate team and league coverage delivered right to your in box. 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