After another mind-blowing, game-winning shot by Dallas Mavericks guard Kyrie Irving in their game Sunday against the Denver Nuggets, Draymond Green believes there are very few players in NBA history that can match his shooting prowess.
Speaking on Tuesday’s episode of "The Draymond Green Show," the 34-year-old explained that Irving essentially is impossible to stop when it comes to scoring and that he agrees with Damian Lillard’s assessment of Irving’s all-time great shooting skill.
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“There’s actually nothing you can do to stop Kyrie from scoring -- you just try to do all you can to make him take a tough shot and live with the results,” Green said. “I saw Damian Lillard tweet, ‘Kyrie Irving is the most skilled player in NBA history,’ and, quite frankly, I’m not sure who can argue against that…The things that Kyrie is capable of are unreal.”
While Green was full of praise for Irving’s basketball abilities, he presented an argument for his Warriors teammate Steph Curry being the most skilled player in NBA history, though he noted that it would be a debate as to whether or not Irving was better than Curry.
“There’s an argument. Now, me personally, I may argue Steph Curry,” Green explained. “The most skilled player we’ve ever seen, the most talented, just some things that he can do, but as I said before, you have an argument. It has to be argued because of Kyrie’s skill.”
Warriors fans will of course remember Irving’s dagger 3-pointer in the closing seconds of Game 7 of the 2016 NBA Finals, a shot that won the game and the series for the Cleveland Cavaliers, but the 31-year-old has continued to be one of the best shot-makers in the league throughout his career.
Golden State Warriors
There’s certainly a case to be made for Curry, however, as his ability to shoot from any spot in the court and his continued scoring prowess over his 15-year NBA career put him in the upper echelon of shooters.
Both the Mavericks and the Warriors sit just outside of a top-six seed in the Western Conference, meaning there is a distinct possibility the two teams could match up in a winner-take-all game in the NBA play-in tournament, something that Green is undoubtedly wary of given Irving’s ability to close out games with impossible shots.