“Don’t Want to Guard Stephen Curry”: Decoding the Hardest Player to Guard, 3x All-Star Compared Allen Iverson and Kyrie Irving to Warriors Superstar

3-time NBA All-Star and former Washington Wizards star Gilbert Arenas recently talked about the hardest players to guard in the NBA. Asked about his experience guarding the likes of Allen Iverson and Stephen Curry, Arenas claimed that he would not want to guard Steph. Talking about how AI would eventually give up the ball, Arenas talked about how Stephen Curry simply did not stop even when he passed.

Comparing Steph to the likes of AI and Kyrie Irving, Arenas concluded that Steph was by far the most difficult player to guard, during the October 19th episode of Gil’s Arena, which premiered last Thursday.

Gilbert Arenas claims guarding Stephen Curry is extremely difficult

Arenas was majorly talking about Curry’s give-and-go playing style. Steph is a top passer, has good handles, and can shoot from anywhere.

Furthermore, he does not stop and tries to finish moves even after passing the ball. Arenas claimed the situation with guarding the likes of Kyrie Irving and Allen Iverson, whom he went against during his prime. He claimed that in AI’s case, he could take a breath each time the player passed the ball, which was not true for Steph,

“I have guarded AI, I don’t want to guard Steph. With AI, he had the ball but if he gave it up, you were like thank you lord jesus! Steph, there is ever no rest, right? He passes it, he is gone. It’s like guarding AI and Rick Hamilton at the same time. And that doesn’t, like his rookie year, he gave me 20 something and I had to switch off. I ain’t guarding that one. I ain’t guarding that one.”

Curry’s constant movement meant that he scored over 20 points against Arenas during his rookie year. That led to the 41-year-old simply bailing, and refusing to guard him. Arenas compared the Curry to a combination of Iverson and Richard Hamilton. 

His opinion was agreed to by the rest of the panel as well. Apart from Curry and Allen Iverson, it was Kyrie Irving who was largely considered to be the most difficult player to guard. While Irving might not be as accomplished a shooter, his superior handles mean that he can still embarrass defenders at a moment’s notice.

Gilbert Arenas claimed he was a better player than Steph at 25

Gilbert Arenas had recently said on his podcast that he was a better player than Steph at the age of 25. Arenas talked about how he “could not be f***ed with” at the age of 25 by anybody, according to Warriors Wire.

However, injury issues meant that he quickly dropped levels after that. Claiming to have become mediocre by 26, Arenas accepted that he could not compare his career with other stars, such as Steph or Damian Lillard.

However, until that age, Arenas claimed to be one of the best around. While that does not translate to even coming close to Curry’s achievements, the 3-time All-Star could have had a much different career had it not been for injuries.