Damian Lillard is widely regarded as one of the best players of his generation. Despite not winning a title, he was named as one of the NBA’s 75 best players in history a few years ago.
One player notably omitted from that list? Kyrie Irving. A lot of conspiracy theories regarding Lillard’s placement over Irving’s ensued, particularly from LeBron James, but nothing definitive was ever said by anyone making the list.
Because of that top 75 list, Lillard and Irving are frequently linked by fans and players alike. During a recent appearance on the Club 520 podcast, Lillard got brutally honest about Irving.
“One-on-one, Kyrie a tough matchup,” Lillard said.
“He’s just a tough matchup. You can guard him perfectly, & he’ll still make it. Either hand, bumping him, he does it when it don’t look like it’s hard to. Sometimes people do it and they make it look smooth, all net, you’re like, ‘Damn.’ That can turn into him making every shot.”
Next season will prove to be interesting. Obviously Lillard had a down year and Irving led the Dallas Mavericks to the NBA Finals.
Currently, Irving seems like the objectively better player.
Will Lillard be able to change that in 2024-25? Time will tell.
