Donte Greene played four years for Sacramento in the Pacific Division, which meant he saw a lot of Kobe Bryant each season. Greene didn’t have it easy his rookie year out of Syracuse in 2008, Kobe was coming off being named MVP and would win championships from 2009-2010. The former King recently looked back on guarding Bryant, describing the matchups more like boxing matches instead of basketball games.
(Via Nitty Gritty Sports Talk):
“You never wanted to piss Kobe off. When I played him I was with the Kings. Kobe had a counter to the counter. You didn’t stop Kobe’s first move, you didn’t stop his second move, you had to try to stop his third move. The first and second were irrelevant.”
