Although he is considered one of the best scorers the NBA has ever seen, Kobe Bryant was also known for being a great defender. The Los Angeles Lakers icon never backed down from any challenge and he was the one who took care of the most dangerous player on rival teams most of his career.
He had great duels with LeBron James, Tony Parker, Manu Ginobili, Chris Paul, and a lot more players, with Bryant always finding the way to guard them amd make their lives as difficult as possible. However, there was one guy that he couldn’t figure out and Kobe always made it clear that at the time of his retirement, he couldn’t find a way to defend Kevin Durant and all his tools to score.
During an interview on The Corp With A-Rod and Big Cat in 2018, Bryant explained that the development of KD made him a hard player to guard and he never figured a way to stop the 2x NBA champion (2:02).
“Kevin Durant. That was the one that I retired without really being able to figure out what it is– how I can stop him. When he first came into the league, he was easy to defend because he couldn’t go right and shoot. He shot kinda across his face so that was a weakness that he had. Also, in the post, he couldn’t turn left shoulder, everything was right shoulder so that gave me areas that I could shut off. Right then, he started developing so I developed it and now he can pull up left, he can pull upright, 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 him left, force him all the way to the basket, even with the advantages of besides, he was still uncomfortable finishing with his left so I could clamp the right hand, and now forced him into a tough situation. But now he’s developed that so I retired not being able to figure him out.”
Kobe retired in 2016, which is the same season where KD lastly played with the Oklahoma City Thunder. In the so-called ‘greatest NBA season of all time,’ Durantula blew a 3-1 lead with the Thunder against the Golden State Warriors before joining them. Kobe scored 60 points in his last game, leaving a huge memory for NBA fans.
Just like Bryant with him, Durant also saw a big rival in Kobe, even revealing he felt he had ‘beef’ with Kobe during the first years of his career and the Laker didn’t have any idea of that. KB24 had stated that Tracy McGrady was his toughest matchup, too, but it seems like the only one he couldn’t figure out was Durantula.
This is how competitive these guys were and they never hesitated to show that during their duels on the court. KD felt really bad when Kobe passed away last year, explaining how hard it was for people to lose a big figure like the Black Mamba. The impact the player had was on the league was huge and Durant must feel honored to see Kobe talking that away about him.
