Kobe Bryant fans are not going to like this. Former NBA star Richard Jefferson just revealed the hardest person he's ever had to defend in his career and the person he picked was LeBron James. Jefferson had a lot of duels against the late, great Los Angeles Lakers legend, but in the end, RJ remains adamant that LeBron still remains to be the tougher defensive matchup.
On a recent episode of NBA Today on ESPN, Jefferson explained why he believes no one tops James in terms of being an explosive threat on offense:
“Kobe was gonna do what Kobe does. He was gonna shoot the ball,” Jefferson said. “… That to me wasn’t the hardest person to guard. It was still LeBron James. Mainly because of this: it was he was bigger, he was more physical.”
“Kobe was gonna do what Kobe does. He was gonna shoot the ball… That to me wasn’t the hardest person to guard. It was still LeBron James.”
Richard Jefferson says guarding LeBron was more difficult than guarding Kobe Bryant🔒
Thoughts? 🤔
(via @ESPNNBA)pic.twitter.com/p2Xj19qFSh
— ClutchPoints (@ClutchPoints) July 19, 2023
Jefferson then described his unforgettable experience of trying to match up against a younger LeBron. This was during the 2007 NBA Playoffs when a 22-year-old LeBron James almost single-handedly defeated Jefferson's New Jersey Nets, who at that time, also had Jason Kidd and Vince Carter in their lineup. At that point in time, Jefferson was just left asking one question:
“At 22, 23 years old, I was like, ‘Man, I don't know what we are going to do with his man,” Jefferson said.
This is still a question that the NBA is asking to this very day. Sorry, Kobe fans, but RJ has spoken, and clearly, he's picking LeBron James over Bryant, at least in this particular aspect.
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