“Third Greatest Player I Had to Guard”: Shane Battier Confesses Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant Were the Greatest Players He Ever Faced

When a defensive player like Shane Battier talks to you about his top three unguardable players, you listen. One of the league’s all-time premier defenders recently opened up about what it is like to guard the likes of Kobe Bryant, LeBron James, and Kevin Durant. During his sit-down with the Knuckleheads Podcast, the two-time NBA Champion talked about how he would start KD over Tracy McGrady and Dominique Wilkins if he had to choose between the three.

This statement got a reaction out of the hosts, which led to a conversation about Battier’s top three toughest players he had to guard during his career. In response, the NBA veteran said, “He [Durant] is like the third greatest player I had to guard. Mad respect for KD.”

After placing KD in the third spot, Battier discussed why Kobe and LeBron were his top two picks. For him, Kobe was just too mentally taxing to deal with, even when he had to meet him just twice a year. Elaborating on it further, the two-time NBA All-Defensive Second Team player said, “The toughest I ever had to guard were Kobe, LeBron and KD.”

“Kobe because he was mentally challenging. I caught LeBron before he could shoot. He got to Miami and he learned to shoot. Before he would just put his head down and try to run you over. If he gets stepped it’s over, he can’t do nothing about it. When he gets downhill in transition, he is the greatest transition player of all time,” he added.

Giving the King his props, Battier ended by saying, “I caught him before he could really shoot…I think he is a better shooter now.”

Finally, the 45-year-old even provided his reasoning for putting KD in the third spot. He played against the likes of Carmelo Anthony and Dwayne Wade, just to name a few. For him to put KD at the third spot just goes on to show how elite of a scorer KD was, even when he was a youngster in OKC. Talking about playing KD, Battier said, “I couldn’t affect his shot. Even with the hand in the face… He admitted that the hand in the face bothered him a little bit. That’s a win for me. He was still a handful.”

Battier would continue his interview by praising Kobe. The former Duke player had earlier in the podcast revealed that he would often play mind games with Kobe to slow him down. However, he admitted having to adopt such strategies after Kobe dropped a 56-point performance on him in 2002.

Shane Battier’s top three

The two-time champ definitely knows what he is talking about. His top three definitely make sense too. LeBron James is currently the scoring leader in the NBA with 38,879 total points. Not only is LeBron great due to his longevity, but he has the silverware to back it up. James is a four-time league MVP and the winner of the 2008 scoring title.

Talking about scoring titles, KD became the youngest player to ever win one in 2010. He followed his success by getting three other scoring titles in 2011,2012 and 2014 respectively.

But Battier mentioned how Kobe was at the top of his list, and it makes sense why. Kobe is a five-time NBA Champion, and although he has one MVP, the Mamba had back-to-back scoring titles in ’06 and ’07.

But Battier didn’t do poorly against Kobe as the Lakers legend even dedicated a page to Shane in his book “Mamba Mentality.” Kobe talked about how Shane and he would play mind games with each other that no one knew. Though Kobe did admit that Battier’s patent move didn’t work on him, the latter seems to disagree.

However, Shane Battier would end up spending the most time with LeBron James, as the two were teammates during LeBron’s run in Miami. Battier and King James would go on to win two Championships during their time together.