NBA Starting Lineup Power Rankings: Big Threes? These are the best third stars in the league

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Anyone can list the best players in the NBA, but basketball is as much about chemistry as it is talent. Within each of the league’s 30 teams is a hierarchy, and how well each of the five players on the court understands and performs his role within that hierarchy is every bit as important as his individual skill.

While depth was vital to the success of the Thunder and Pacers last season, and we understand coaches often say, “It’s about who closes the game; not who starts it,” the pursuit of a roster’s most cohesive five-man unit is still paramount. Three of last year’s top four starting lineups on our list — the Thunder, Knicks and Timberwolves — reached the conference finals.

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In this series, we rank each team’s starters for a broader look across the league. Ideally, a lineup has its superstar, a deferential co-star, a third star who owns his role, a fourth option and a fifth starter to tie it all together — clear Nos. 1, 2, 3, 4 and 5. How close does your team come to an ideal lineup?

No. 3 options: The Third Stars Who Own Their Roles

What is a No. 3? Here is how we described him last year:

He is still a star, at least on a good team, but he is sacrificing some faction of his game for the greater good of the team. He usually leans into his greatest skill, whether that is flame-throwing 3s or defending like crazy. Ideally, it is both, and if you ask more from your third star, he answers the call.

There is a balance to downsizing your role and remaining as efficient as ever, and it is the third star’s responsibility to strike it. Think of Kevin Love on the 2016 Cleveland Cavaliers. He arrived from a lottery team in Minnesota, where he was the No. 1 — and an entirely different player at that, doing most of his damage inside of 8 feet — but transitioned into a 3-and-D weapon behind LeBron James and Kyrie Irving.

The greatest teams in NBA history featured Hall of Fame talents who might have been even more productive on lesser rosters. You know them well: Robert Parish, James Worthy, Dennis Rodman, etc. They managed to understand their position in the pecking order and find their own way to thrive in it.

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Hey, that’s pretty good! Let’s stick with it. Consider Draymond Green, whose defensive, playmaking and occasional shooting prowess could thrive in the space created by Stephen Curry and Klay Thompson — and now Jimmy Butler in his place — to perpetuate one of the great dynasties in the league’s history. Could Green have developed into a star in his own right on any other team? We don’t know. And who cares, for he leveraged what skills he does have to star for this team in exactly the way it needed him.

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Lastly, we sourced these lineups and each player’s status within them with beat reporters around the league. We appreciate everyone who casted a roster; there are too many people to thank in this space. And we recognize that not every player listed here will be in an opening-night starting lineup. Injuries occur. Coaches change their minds. But just know that this is our best guess at the rotations we will likely see most often from each team.

We’ve unveiled our rankings of the top No. 1 and No. 2 options. Without further ado, your five best No. 3s …

1. Chet Holmgren, Oklahoma City Thunder

Holmgren has played 114 regular-season games over the first three years of his career, missing the entirety of his rookie season to a right foot injury and 50 games last season to a fractured right hip.

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When healthy, though, and he was for all of last season’s playoffs, helping the Thunder to the NBA’s 2025 championship, Holmgren is among the league’s best centers. Playing all 82 games of his sophomore campaign, Holmgren collected 190 blocks and 129 3-point makes, joining Victor Wembanyama, Kristaps Porziņģis, Jaren Jackson Jr., Myles Turner and Brook Lopez as the only players to register at least 100 3s and 100 blocks. Only Lopez converted more 3-pointers, and only Wembanyama registered more blocks.

In other words, Holmgren is one of the game’s best at creating space on one end and taking it away on the other. In addition to serving as a roaming rim protector, Holmgren can defend in space against all five positions, holding up well against switches in the playoffs. He can also create for himself on the offensive end. There is more to his game, and while Oklahoma City may not need him to demonstrate the full array of his skill set, the idea that the 23-year-old should be an All-Star in his two-way role is a scary thought.

2. Darius Garland, Cleveland Cavaliers

Garland is among the league’s best point guards and certainly its best secondary guard, as he complements Donovan Mitchell in Cleveland’s backcourt. While Mitchell is the more ball-dominant player, his willingness to cede some control of the offense to Garland led to a 64-win campaign for the Cavaliers.

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When Mitchell, Garland and Evan Mobley — all top-10 options in their roles — shared the floor together last season, the Cavs outscored opponents by 10.1 points per 100 meaningful possessions, per Cleaning the Glass, regardless of who took the court with them. That is the stuff of true championship contention.

It did not work out that way in the playoffs again, as a toe injury prevented Garland from taking the floor for Cleveland’s first two losses to the Pacers in an eventual five-game exit from the second round. Nor were Mitchell and Mobley healthy for the team’s second-round loss to the eventual champion Boston Celtics in 2024. This gives the Cavaliers reason to believe in proof of concept when everyone is healthy — to believe that they can break through if only Garland is present to complement Mitchell and Mobley.

3. Aaron Gordon, Denver Nuggets

Gordon was miscast as a No. 1 option in Orlando, where the Magic were a lottery team with him at the helm. He immediately became one of the league’s best complementary stars in 2021 upon joining the Nuggets, for whom the pick-and-roll combo of Nikola Jokić and Jamal Murray was a clear-cut 1-2 punch.

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Denver just needed Gordon to do what he was best at doing. Offensively, he cuts and rolls to the rim, where he is among the NBA’s most explosive athletes, or pops to the 3-point line, where he shot 43.6% on 3.4 attempts per game last season. Defensively, he can and does switch across multiple positions.

Gordon was the missing piece to Denver’s 2023 championship run, manhandling smaller defenders and outmaneuvering bigger ones. He might have been last season, too, if a hamstring injury had not limited him at the end of a seven-game series with the eventual champion Thunder. There are few players in the league who understand and execute their roles as well as Gordon, who unlocked a perennial contender.

4. Domantas Sabonis, Sacramento Kings

Sabonis is capable of a triple-double from the center position on any given night, averaging a 19-14-6 last season. Production-wise, there are few third options that can compete with Sabonis, who is among the league’s best low-post scorers, arguably its best rebounder (he has led the NBA in that category each of the past three seasons) and one of its best passers — perhaps second only to Jokić among big men.

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We have to wonder what Sacramento might look like if either of its top two options, Zach LaVine and DeMar DeRozan, were the type of two-way performers that could carry a winning franchise. Likewise, how might the Kings fare if the roster were built to complement Sabonis? If, for example, Sacramento featured a floor-spacing rim protector like Holmgren at Sabonis’ side, might they be a fringe contender?

Indiana and Sacramento have built playoff rosters around Sabonis, who has served as anywhere from a first to third option. He is best suited as a No. 3, though maybe not in Sacramento, where neither LaVine nor DeRozan are defenders. What the Kings need from Sabonis is defense, but that is not his game. He has every other complementary skill, which leads us to wonder if he would be better suited elsewhere.

5. Desmond Bane, Orlando Magic

Bane was among the NBA’s best third stars in Memphis, where he complemented Ja Morant and Jaren Jackson Jr., averaging a 20-5-4 as one of the league’s deftest sharpshooters over the past four years, which included a pair of No. 2 seeds in the Western playoffs. Bane was also fifth on this list a year ago.

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The Magic identified Bane as their missing piece, paying a hefty price, including the rights to four first-round draft picks, to acquire him from the Grizzlies. Orlando desperately needed shooting around its co-stars, Paolo Banchero and Franz Wagner, and Bane is that. The 27-year-old has shot 41% on 6.3 attempts a game in a five-year career, proving to be just as effective as a pull-up shooter as he is a spot-up threat.

Orlando has not fielded a top-10 offense since 2010, which is remarkable. If the Magic are to become a contender, as they expect, an elite offense is a necessity. And if Bane can get them there, he may warrant a higher standing on this list a season from now, as his skills are perfectly suited to solve Orlando’s issues. The Magic are also perfectly suited to mask Bane’s defensive limitations. Fit is everything, and Bane fits.

The honorable mentions

6. Ivica Zubac, Los Angles Clippers

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7. Draymond Green, Golden State Warriors

8. Mikal Bridges, New York Knicks

9. Amen Thompson, Houston Rockets

10. Rudy Gobert, Minnesota Timberwolves

11. Austin Reaves, Los Angeles Lakers

12. Paul George, Philadelphia 76ers

13. Norman Powell, Miami Heat

14. Kristaps Porziņģis, Atlanta Hawks

15. Jrue Holiday, Portland Trail Blazers

The rest

16. Andrew Nembhard, Indiana Pacers; 17. Stephon Castle, San Antonio Spurs; 18. Tobias Harris, Detroit Pistons; 19. Payton Pritchard, Boston Celtics; 20. RJ Barrett, Toronto Raptors; 21. Nikola Vučević, Chicago Bulls; 22. Miles Bridges, Charlotte Hornets; 23. Jordan Poole, New Orleans Pelicans; 24. Nicolas Claxton, Brooklyn Nets; 25. Gary Trent Jr., Milwaukee Bucks; 26. D’Angelo Russell, Dallas Mavericks; 27. Mark Williams, Phoenix Suns; 28. Zach Edey, Memphis Grizzlies; 29. Bub Carrington, Washington Wizards; 30. Keyonte George, Utah Jazz

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