Kevin Durant Says Kobe Bryant Was The Best Clutch Player
In a recent interview with Barstool Big Cat and Alex Rodriguez on "The Corp" podcast, Kevin Durant was asked who was the best clutch player he's faced.
Durant didn't hesitate in his response.
''Kobe," he said. "I was scared s---less of Kobe Bryant late in the games."
Bryant is tied with Joe Johnson for the most regular season buzzer beaters in NBA history with seven, according to The Ringer. Michael Jordan had six.
Bryant was an 18-time All-Star, five-time champion, two-time Finals MVP and one-time regular season MVP in 2008.
He died in a helicopter crash Jan. 26 alongside his 13-year-old daughter Gianna and seven other people.
Two days after Bryant died, Durant, who missed the 2019-2020 season with the Brooklyn Nets because of a ruptured right Achilles tendon, spoke to the media about how much Bryant affected his career.
"Having an opportunity to compete against Kobe and be around him in the human space was a joy, and those emotions just start coming out at once," Durant told reporters Jan. 28.
"It's hard to comprehend all of this. Having that time and those moments with Kobe, it was always about pressing forward. And I think at this time it is so hard to do so with just the amount of impact he had on all of us. It is hard to keep going right now. As a basketball community, as the world as a whole, I know we're just mourning and sticking together when it comes to this."
Durant was selected as the No. 2 overall pick by the Seattle Supersonics in the 2007 draft. His career overlapped with Bryant's for nine seasons before Bryant retired in 2016.
