The NBA has firmly entered a new era of basketball as Dwyane Wade and Dirk Nowitzki joined the likes of Kobe Bryant and Tim Duncan in retirement.
These four along with many others entering their retirement signaled the end of the hard-nosed, fundamental era in favor of the flashy and analytically led sport the game has become today.
However, basketball fans still love to look back at these times and check in with the legends that helped shape the game. This is why it’s often that pregame shows and in-game interviews feature the likes of Wade and Bryant. These interviews usually consist of questions about what that retired player is doing in their post-playing days as well as questions reminiscing about those days now that they’re no longer directly involved with them.
One of the most popular questions asked is something along the lines of ‘Who was the hardest player to guard?’ or ‘Who was the hardest player to score on?’ When Wade was asked the former, his answer came quickly as he had no doubt in his mind about who it was, via NBA 2K20 TV:
#NBA2K20 Legend Edition cover athlete @DwyaneWade talks about who the hardest player to guard was… his answer? @kobebryant. Watch the full interview on this week's episode of @NBA2K_2KTV! pic.twitter.com/em8TKPdhEa
— NBA 2KTV (@NBA2K_2KTV) September 22, 2019
This is not the first time that Wade has shown Bryant this level of respect. When Wade first retired, he said that Bryant and Michael Jordan ranked above him on the all-time shooting guard list.
Bryant and Wade met a total of 20 times in their careers, but zero times in the NBA playoffs.
However, there is a mutual respect that exists between two of the game’s greatest players.