LeBron James Says The Toughest Person He Has Ever Guarded Was 10 Year Old Derrick Tarver
mf played against kobe, ai, shai, luka, d wade and wayy more and the hardest to guard was a 10 year old
The question was “on any level of basketball” and LeBron was an 7-8 year old. I think this is a legitimate answer, age is huge in youth sports. Sometimes the correct answer isn’t the obvious one.
It’s a legitimate answer but it’s also a ridiculous answer. Both can be true.
That’s fair. I got a chuckle out of it. But I liked this answer a lot more. If you want an answer about the toughest NBA player to guard, ask him the follow up question.
For LBJ his story didn’t stop there or shortly after…obviously. However the story he’s describing is a funny one that happens a lot; hitting your ceiling as an athlete.
For example. Played travel and AAU baseball growing up, better than a majority of my peers on most days. Until one practice at about 13, watched our pitcher (later pitched D1) throw a pitch, from my vantage point at short, a pitch that I watched have actual movement like a video game.
In real time I had a moment of “Ah shit I think this may be it for me cause…wtf am I gonna do with that”
Yeah I quit travel baseball when I saw my first curveball and 75+ mph pitch. I was a fantastic outfielder and menace on the basepaths but a shitty hitter and I knew my days of getting on base were over.
It’s also the most diplomatic answer. If he names any NBA player it immediately begs the question, “well why not X?”
It’s probably the only time in his life where he remembers thinking, “I have no chance of stopping this.”
If he ever feels that way in the NBA, it’ll be the day he realizes he’s too old and doesn’t have it anymore.
The guy was 5 years older than Lebron. Lebron is saying he as a 3rd grader lost to a 8th grader on the JV team. He might as well said he lost to his mom when playing pickup in kindergarten.
Think 7-8 years old LeBron vs 10 years old Tarver before all the puberty.
I think we would all remember the first person who punked us so bad at basketball, shit I remember the first time I got my ankles broken as if it was yesterday and it was nearly a decade ago. I’m still pissed off I got my shit broken by a simple hesi
Looking up their ages, Tarver is actually 4.5 years older than LeBron, so it would have been 5-6 year old LeBron if in fact Tarver was 10. I imagine they were both probably a little older but whatever the case, it’s probably one of the last times LeBron felt outmatched physically on the basketball court.
Our best friend’s kid wanted to play his uncles one on one when he was around 10 years old on a 7 foot rim. I dunked on him and did the Shaq vs Dudley push on him. To this day he said I’m the best player he’s ever had to guard. He’s 17 now and is 8 inches taller than me. We’re never playing basketball again.
Never played too much ball growing up cos I got into the sport late. Got my ankles broken as a 26 year old by a 16 year old with a simple crossover. That’s when I learnt why they always tell you to stay low on D. 🥲
Played at the boys and girls club when I was 12, my team(randomly generated teams bye) was 11-0 going into the championship, we cooked every team by at least 20, final game my best friend guarded me, I was averaging 10-15 a game, he completely locked me down crushed my confidence I think I maybe scored 4 pts that game. We won but it still haunts me how aggressive he was and how he completely shut me down, that was almost 30 years ago you never forget.
You gon get that moment back one day. Especially when you move slower. Kid gon make you stumble and you gon steal the ball from the ground and outlet it down court from an ass a sitting position
He’s pissing people off no matter what he says here. This is a fun and diplomatic way to answer.
On the other hand, this was probably one of the last times LeBron genuinely felt like he wasn’t the most physically dominant player on the court in his life. The dude was bigger and faster than some NBA players as a freshman in high school lol.
That’s the point. He looks wholesome telling a childhood story without having to acknowledge anyone he played against in the nba was a challenge.
I think the ones who gave more problems to Lebron has been KD and Melo. Melo more than Kobe because Lebron and Kobe didn’t guard each other that much, while Melo and Bron were always guarding each other.
I remember games were Melo for some reason would score on Lebron without much struggle like only KD did.
Among the random players who gave Lebron some surprising tough matchups, Rudy Gay and Danny Granger for whatever reason, Paul Pierce definitely had games were he was able to outplay Lebron, Kobe and anybody else.
One thing that makes me laugh every time is that Lebron is NEVER the answer about which player was more unguardable. Nobody ever put his name, but then, for 23 years there was never an actual Lebron stopper.
i was just naming a few of the top scorers of the top of my head
The list now goes Tarver, Wilt, BAM, Kobe
Kobe is meh, ai was short, shai was scared, Luka was fat, and d wade was his friend haha jk
To be fair hes saying he had a harder time guarding a 10 year old when he was 7 than guarding anyone else in the NBA when lebron was a grown ass man
Lebron made Kobe shoot 9⁄28 (overall isos when guarded by lebron). Lets face it ,Kobe was star struck and never did shit against Lebron.
That’s bait
Only the second part , As much as i hate on Lefraud. The statistic proves Kobe was nothing in front of him.
I heard enough, Derrick Tarver the GOAT
I mean, the host did say “any level”.
According to another comment here, Derrick Tarver was supposedly pretty good. Not NBA-level but played professionally in Sweden.
Relative to LeBron’s age at the time, he was probably hard for LeBron to guard. LeBron started playing organized basketball in fifth grade. So if LeBron was 10, Derrick Tarver (his stats are on Basketball Reference.com) would’ve been maybe 14-15 assuming his listed birthdate (June 1980) is correct. Even with natural talent and genetics I have to imagine it’s somewhat difficult for a 10-year-old to guard a 15-year-old.
It’s probably not his entirely honest answer because there were obviously better players than Tarver in the NBA but the question wasn’t worded in that way.
Derrick was 10. LeBron was even younger.
I think LeBron is misremembering. LeBron didn’t even play basketball at all until he was 9. If Derrick was 10 that would make LeBron 5-6 and no 10-year-old would play competitive basketball with a kindergartener.
Do you really think LeBron never picked up a basketball till he was 9?
Picked up a basketball? Yes.
Played organized basketball and remembering the players names he played against? No, that probably started at 9.
Even with Lebrons insane genetics he probably couldn’t even shoot on a 10 foot hoop at 5 years old. Well, he probably could, but not from outside a layup.
Ok
As a Swede, playing professional basketball here really isn’t a complement
But it’s a silly answer. Like imagine if LeBron said he played pick up once as a 12 year old against a random D1 athlete and that was his hardest competition he’s ever faced.
That’s not the answer anyone is looking for
Yes it is the answer that the interviewer is looking for, or they wouldn’t have said “at any level”. The person asking the question had full capability to not say that, or specifying “in the NBA”. This is the answer they were fishing for, and they got it. Some of you guys do not understand journalism at all.
Was this pick up or an actual league? If he said when he was in 5th grade, this other 5th grader whooped him, that’s an acceptable answer.
I lost to my mom as a 4 year old cause she was 3 times my height is not the answer anyone js looking for.
Damn you really took this 6 degrees of Kevin Bacon away from the original question to make your point seem reasonable. Can you just watch the video? Lmao
Watched it. Maybe you should think a bit more
Wait till you hear Jeff Teague’s story about guarding Tarver.
There’s this kid named Derrick Tarver Jr who I’m assuming is this dude’s kid that is apparently the top ranked fourth grader in the nation lol.
Dude he’s talking about used to play in the Swedish league and absolutely cooked folks. He put up a 60 ball and it looked easy.
Wonder what Bam would put up in Swedish league
Fun fact, the most points ever scored by one person in one game is 272 points in Sweden
https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/List_of_basketball_players_who_have_scored_100_points_in_a_single_game#Worldwide
You imagine how exhausted he had to be by the end of that? Good lord.
Had to be like hanging drywall ceilings all day haha shoulders absolutely roasted. Insane to imagine.
Lol 272-0 final score. He must have just stolen every inbounds pass under the hoop. Incredible.
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He averaged 20+ in college too https://www.sports-reference.com/cbb/players/derrick-tarver-1.html
Yo Darryn Peterson’s dad was on his team
Respect the Bahçeşehir Koleji legend and Turkish NT player Malachi Flynn please >! /s !<
This dude lol…
He’s basically saying he doesn’t feel like he’s been dominated on the court since he was 8 years lol
You guys are constantly on a mission to prove nobody on this sub has any comprehension skills. On ANY level of basketball is the very important part to the answer he gave. Guarding someone bigger and stronger than him as a kid is probably a core memory and experience, but because there’s no agenda r/nba can push based off of it he must be coping and dodging questions.
Guarding someone bigger and stronger than him as a kid is probably a core memory and experience
From the time he hit puberty onwards he was the most athletic dude on the court at all times, so it us something he essentially never had to deal with again after that. So yeah, I could easily see how the memory of that feeling of helplessness would stick with him.
Exactly
Bro it’s reddit, people actively find reasons to whine about stuff lmao. It was gonna happen regardless of what he said
yea people really don’t seem to understand that this might be the only time someone was bigger, faster and stronger than Lebron. Dude has probably been the most athletic player on the court since he hit puberty.
Are you responding to someone in particular? It seems like most people are enjoying a unique answer to an often asked question.
lol such a cop out answer but I respect it
LeBron was the best player in all of high school basketball when he was in 8th grade. Of course it’s going to be when he was a kid that an older more physically developed kid was the toughest guard.
Oh yeah, the guy he’s talking about also had a 20ppg college career and played pro overseas.
Ya probably not Kobe Bryant or Kevin Durant… probably a 10 year old who never made the league.
When LeBron was 7, a 10 year old *was* KD or Kobe. You people don’t understand so let me break it down for you.
It’s not that this kid was better than KD or Kobe, it’s that at that age, defending them was more difficult than defending NBA players because of the gap in skill. This kid was leagues better than LeBron because of physical development. In the NBA, no one has been leagues ahead of LeBron. Like ever. In his whole career. That was also true of high school. So he has to go all the way back to childhood to find an example of the skill gap necessary for it to be the most difficult to guard.
TLDR: it’s not because this kid was sooooooo good, it’s because at that age he was so much better than Lebron.
What if Lebron was 12 and played against a random D1 athlete at pick up. Would that be a dumb answer?
Yes, it would be.
If 12 year old LeBron said high school KG was his toughest opponent you wouldn’t question his answer.
Ok?
I do understand and it’s still stupid.
He said “at any level” and LeBron didn’t play college and those SVSM teams were basically unbeatable so unless he was gonna say HS Melo, the “at any level” part was practically begging for LeBron to say something like this.
Come on bro he’s guarded nba all time greats. Can’t tell me this ten year old was the hardest he ever had to guard
It’s not about the opponent lol. It’s about himself. At around 7 years old he’s not that guy yet, basically he’s an OVR 65 player playing against an OVR 75 player. Once he hit HS up to present days, he was always at least OVR 90, way above everyone else or at least at par with the best of them. Even if he met an OVR 99 player, if he were an OVR 95 player, the gap is still smaller than when he was an OVR 65 player playing against someone OVR 75.
See, I dumbed it down for you, NBA 2K terms.
Naw a cop out answer would’ve been a answer we expect honestly kinda glad he didn’t give a generic response
It’s real though. My worst matchup ever also happened before I hit puberty. When you play up from an early age, you will inevitably get your ass handed to you lol.
Not really lol
Lebron or Jordan….. or Tarver
Jackson, Tyson, Tarver, game 6
You got a broken clock?
He knew before Tarver was born that he was going to be the best he’d ever see on the court
This is like when Clayton Kershaw and Matt Stafford shoutout that random guy they grew up with as an athletic freak on Pardon My Take.
lol this story never gets old. LeBron guarded everyone from prime Rose to KD and picks the 10-year-old lefty from Akron. honestly respect the honesty 😂
Developmental differences are huge, let alone the age gap. This stuff is really non linear with literal children. Similarly I’ve heard a ton of Schae Cotton stories where he was just so far physically ahead of other kids at 12-13 that by the time he was a freshman in high school he was getting magazine profiles because he was dominating other kids. You have Paul Pierce saying this was the guy who was just way better than him growing up. His AAU team had to recruit KG from out of state to beat him.
But because this is the kid who dominated LeBron and not Paul Pierce people are incredulous.
Oh for fucks sake
Bro peaked in elementary school
LeBron would say a 10 year old
RIP Tarver’s inbox
Before he got the puberty boost lol
Reading comprehension is at an all-time low.
Was always curious about these stories, dudes that could whoop nba players behind the scenes but never panned out in the nba or got a fair chance
Tarver got addicted to substance - chocomilk
He was whopping a 7 year old LeBron lol. I could have done it too. (Probably, but definitely a 5 year old LeBron)
Wasn’t he part of the Nexus?
You know you’re GOATed when your biggest obstacle came at 8 years old.
“so when I was 6, my dad guarded me.. I had no chance”
I felt like he just described himself but he randomly gave it a name called Derrick 😭
Probably Jason terry considering he whppped his ass all over Miami
Why does bro always try to give some profound or unique answer, just relax it ain’t that deep.
I think he meant JJ Barea
Interviewer- “I meant in the NBA, dumbass”
Can’t give flowers to contemporaries ok
Performative ass answer.
That’s because he doesn’t play defense. Can’t guard anyone when you don’t play defense.
I know he’s probably trying to give his old friend props but we all saw him getting cooked by Kobe,
Lmao “cooked” huh. You mean he outplayed Kobe
Lakers flair lmao
I gotta call it like it is
There were meetings in 2006 to 2010 Kobe was dropping 30 plus every time they played, Lebron was consistently a good defender so yeah he was cooking Lebron on offense with this point totals