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Tony Allen Names Dwyane Wade, Not Kobe Bryant, As The Toughest Player He Had To Guard In His Career

Tony Allen, best known as a former member of the Boston Celtics and Memphis Grizzlies, prided himself in playing defense and guarding the best player every night. Allen gave many players a lot of trouble and eventually built a big-time reputation as one of the best defensive players of his time.

Allen ended his 14-year career with three All-Defensive First Team and two All-Defensive Second Team honors. As a player who had gritty battles with a number of offensive stars, Allen recently sat down on ‘The Ryen Russillo Podcast’ and was asked about the toughest player he ever had to guard in the NBA. 

While paying respect to Kobe Bryant who cemented himself as one of the best scorers of all-time, Allen ultimately gave the nod to Dwyane Wade as the toughest player he ever guarded in the NBA.

“Although Kobe is cold, big respects to Kob, but I just think when I used to against my hometown coworker D-Wade at the time, I thought he was always trying to go at my head. And I thought it was my duty to try and stop him. Boy, was he tough. He gets to that line, he slashed, he wasn’t just your typical superstar where he just catches it in the post or catch it on the wing and just go to work.”

“He used to pick and roll sometimes, he’d be in the offense. If he can’t get his shot going off the pull-up, back door cuts. You’ve got to be aware of a superstar staying this active, watching the offensive rebound, he might come tip dunk. I thought every time that I got a chance to play, he performed and it was difficult. I don’t know the numbers. But I know for a fact if I could look at the numbers for sure, Dwyane Wade, he used to give me fits man.”