Kevin Durant is arguably the best player in the league at the moment. He was the only person who admittedly gave Kobe Bryant a tough time on defense, who was known to be vindictive in the opposition half. And Durant recently acknowledged that Kobe was always toying with him when he was guarding.

Kevin Durant comments on Kobe’s defence

Kevin Durant, the Brooklyn Nets forward, recently commented on how Lakers great Kobe Bryant defended him during their games in an Instagram story. The picture is from back when the 33-year-old was with the Seattle SuperSonics and Mamba was playing defense on Durant.

The two-time NBA champion reposted the photo and added the caption “Bean always hackin man.”

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The duals of this duo were extremely iconic. And despite being like enemies on the court, they were actually good friends.

Kobe’s opinion on Durant’s game

Kobe has admitted that he could not figure out how to guard Durant.

While talking about how Durant improved his game over the years, Kobe said “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, forcing 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.”

Kevin would have been ecstatic to hear Kobe Bryant speak so highly of him. Given that Kobe was an inspiration to the next generation of basketball players. Kevin respects Bryant so highly considering that it was so easy for Bryant to lock him down, he feels he was toying with him.