When Kobe Bryant rated Kevin Durant as the toughest player to guard

There is no doubt that Kobe Bryant was one of the best players to have played in the NBA. Bryant was well known for his scoring and also had great skills of locking down the crucial players of the opposition. Bryant played in the NBA for 20 long years and played against the likes of Vince Carter and current players like LeBron James and Kevin Durant.

In an interview which Bryant gave earlier, the Mamba rated Kevin Durant as the toughest player to guard. Bryant noticed that it was easy to defend against Durant in the nascent stages of his career as he couldn’t go right and shoot.

However, as Durant gained experience, he developed his game and took giant strides. Kobe Bryant admitted that he could not really figure out how to defend against Durant as he was able to work on his shortcomings and then Mamba decided to soon retire.

In an interview, uploaded by ProCity Hoops, Kobe Bryant said when asked about the toughest player to guard, “Kevin Durant….When he first came in the league, he was easy to defend because he couldn’t go right and shoot….”

Bryant added, “Then he started developing it, started developing it and now he can pull up left, he could pull up right and he can shoot the long ball. He has runners left hand, right hand. Before he had a left hand finish at the rim. I could always send them left force him all the way to the basket.”

Kobe added, “But now he has developed that. So then I couldn’t really figure out how?… When he makes them repeatedly, I couldn’t really figure out that rhythm yet. So I retired, not being able to figure him out.”

Kevin Durant is definitely one of the most difficult players to guard as there is hardly any chink in his armour. Meanwhile, Durant scored 29 points against France in the Olympics final as the USA won by 87-82 to clinch their 16th Gold medal at the Games.