Kobe Bryant didn’t just give defenders problems—he gave them nightmares. Over 1,198 career starts, he averaged 26.6 points, 5.6 rebounds, and 5.0 assists, but stats barely tell the story. He watched every move, figured out your weakness, and then hit you with a fadeaway so smooth it felt personal. Kevin Durant once confessed, “The toughest player for me to guard one-on-one? Had to be Kobe.” And if KD—a 7-foot scoring cheat code—couldn’t stop him, imagine what it was like for the rest. Even the NBA’s self-proclaimed “Grindfather” wasn’t safe. Kobe had something for everyone.

Tony Allen spent 14 seasons in the league, suiting up for the Grizzlies, Celtics, and Pelicans. He averaged 8.1 points and 3.5 rebounds across 820 regular-season games—and walked away with one NBA championship. But where does his legacy really shine? His legendary battles with Kobe Bryant. The two went head-to-head 34 times—24 in the regular season, 10 in the playoffs—and split their duels dead even: 17 wins each, 12 in the regular season and five in the postseason. Perfectly balanced, as all things should be.

And Allen never forgot those legendary battles. He was on The OGs podcast when he dropped a gem of a Kobe story—one that perfectly captured the chess match the two played every time they stepped on the court. “They runnin’ the triangle offense,” Allen started, laughing. “They didn’t ran this offense all through the years before we even got in the league.” By then, Tony knew it like the back of his hand. “I know when you flash to this elbow and Pau [Gasol] is up top, I know the backdoor is coming… You might give a handoff to Lamar Odom, and then after that, you goin’ straight into your ISO.” So he made a call: forget all the switching and overthinking—just deny it. “How about this be my best defense right here?” he said. He jumped the pass, disrupted the flow, and forced Kobe to reset.

That’s when it got weird. Kobe started calling plays in Spanish. “I’m like, ‘Why is you speaking in Spanish, bro? Y’all in the same formation!” Allen knew something was up. After the game, he finally pieced it together—Kobe wasn’t just bilingual, he was multilingual. And when he wanted to throw defenders off, he’d switch languages mid-play. “I said, ‘Bro, when y’all wanna do audibles to y’all plays, y’all start speaking in Spanish?’” Kobe’s reply? “You better know it.” So yeah, Kobe’s matchups weren’t just tough—they were mental marathons that Allen had to sleep through.

And Tony’s got more stories. On The Out of the Mud podcast, he remembered something that still haunts him. “That’s the most discouraging s— he used to do to me, bro,” Allen said, reliving a moment burned into his memory—when Kobe would yell at him to shoot, even when his back was turned. “I ain’t gonna even lie. When he said ‘shoot it,’ I would be wide open in the corner, that man would just look, and then turn around and wait for me to shoot it.” You can see why Allen can’t shake that image. Maybe he never will.

But not every Kobe memory was built on fire and frustration. Some of them? They were beautiful. Emotional. And for Tony Allen, unforgettable.

Kobe Bryant called Allen the best defender.

When Kobe Bryant sat down for a promotional event with BodyArmor back in 2018, he didn’t hesitate—not even for a second—when asked who the toughest defender of his career was. “Tony Allen, that’s easy, it was Tony Allen,” Kobe said without blinking. “He was the only one who wasn’t crying for help… Tony Allen would play you straight up. I could score 10 straight on him, and he’s not blinking. He’s still there, he’s still playing defense, he’s still being physical, he’s not backing down.” For someone like Kobe, who gave defenders nightmares, that kind of praise wasn’t thrown around lightly.

Their battles were legendary. From gritty regular season matchups to the grandest stage in basketball—the NBA Finals—Allen and Kobe clashed like titans in 2008 and again in 2010. While the Celtics and Lakers split those series, the one constant was that Allen never backed down. And Kobe knew it. He felt it. “I would used to finish playing against Tony Allen, and I had scratch marks everywhere, and I loved it,” Bryant remembered. That respect went beyond words—it became a story of mutual recognition through the years.

After one Lakers-Grizzlies game in Memphis, Kobe gifted Allen something unforgettable—not just a signed jersey like Allen had quietly hoped for weeks earlier—but a pair of custom Nike Kobe 11s, as reported by Basketball Network. On one toe box, he wrote, “To Tony, the best defender I faced,” and on the other, “Kobe 24.” Allen was floored. “I had to keep my composure… I damn near teared up… It meant everything,” he said. “I would wake up in the morning thinking about guarding Kobe… I dreamed about guarding Kobe… And this was him showing respect. I couldn’t believe it.” And really, is there any bigger compliment than getting props from the Black Mamba himself?

For Tony Allen, guarding Kobe wasn’t just about physical toughness—it was mental warfare. And in that battle, even the best defenders were left chasing shadows. Kobe earned respect the hard way—by breaking down the unbreakable.