Stephen Curry, the Golden State Warriors guard, recently revealed his personal power rankings of the NBA's toughest defenders.
Usually, it's defenders that are scared of Stephen Curry. His ability to shoot the ball from deep, combined with his ball handling, relentless off-ball movement, and overall craftiness/creativity makes him extremely hard to defend. In fact, for most NBA defenders, he's a nightmare matchup. (Just ask De'Aaron Fox.)
Warriors: Stephen Curry names 3 toughest defenders of his career
Stephen Curry is one of the hardest players to stay in front of, let alone defend, when everything is clicking. In spite of that, it's become clear that some defenders could actually stop Curry. In fact, during an interview on the TODAY Show, Steph revealed his list of the toughest NBA defenders.
In Steph's words, "A lightbulb went off when they're on the court." The three defenders Curry named? Jrue Holiday, Tony Allen, and Ron Artest.
Curry elaborated on why these players had such a defensive impact on the court, saying, "I didn't get to play too many games against [Artest], but he had the strongest hands you've ever seen in your life. You put the ball around him…he'd just smack it right out of your hands."
Both Allen and Artest were regarded as top defenders during their heyday. In Artest's second stint with the Lakers, Kobe noted that Artest, "raises the defensive levels of everyone on the floor." Tony Allen was a six-time member of the NBA All-Defensive Team, including three times as a first team member. The late-great Kobe Bryant actually went so far as to gift Tony Allen a pair of his own shoes with a message scribbled on the toe that said, "To Tony, the best defender I ever faced."
It's unlikely Curry will ever face the other two again, as both have retired. The only active player on the list is Jrue Holiday, a 14-year veteran. It'll be interesting to see if he can still give Curry and the Warriors any trouble. Hopefully, after this next season, a young, relevant defender forces Curry to add him to this list. Because right now, the 35-year-old point guard appears unstoppable.
