“Tony Allen is the best defender I’ve ever faced”: Kevin Durant and Kobe Bryant both named former Celtics, Grizzlies swingman as their toughest matchup

Tony Allen of ‘First Team All-Defense’ fame troubled the best perimeter scorers in the NBA during his heyday. Kevin Durant gave him his flowers in an interview with the Players’ Tribune.

The Grindfather Tony Allen was a 14-year veteran who was drafted by the Boston Celtics in 2004. He soon made a name for himself with his tough-nosed, gritty defensive style.

While he’d already established himself as a defensive ace in Boston, their depth chart left him with a limited role. Memphis realized his potential as a lockdown guy and handed him a 3-year contract in 2010.

Allen subsequently became the heart and soul of the Grizzlies’ Grit n Gridn teams in the years to come. During this time, his defense bothered the very best perimeter scorers in the Western Conference.

Kevin Durant has witnessed the impact of Allen’s physical, yet extremely agile defensive style. He found it difficult to put the ball on the floor or get to his spots with characteristic ease in those series the Thunder played against Memphis.

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Kevin Durant gave props to Tony Allen on his appearance on the Knuckleheads podcast

KD was on the Knuckleheads podcast 2 years ago, during the prime of his career with the Warriors. The 30-year-old then gave a really great, revealing interview about he sees the game of basketball.

Q&D went into many aspects of Durant’s career. There was some talk obviously about him winning 4 scoring titles and 2 Finals MVP trophies. They then went into talking about KD’s opponents for a bit, asking him who the best player to ever defend him.

KD clarified that Trevor Ariza was the best current player alongside PJ Tucker to defend him. But all-time, he had Tony Allen right up there at the no.1 spot:

“Tony Allen from Chicago!”

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