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LeBron James Sends Clear Message to Toughest Player He's Ever Guarded

Originally posted on Athlon Sports | By Paolo Songco | Last updated Sep 19, 2025 8:12 PM ET

Los Angeles Lakers superstar LeBron James is now entering his 23rd season in the NBA. Through the years, he’s had the privilege of battling some of the greatest players to have ever picked up a basketball.

In a recent appearance on the “360 With Speedy” podcast for Complex, the NBA’s all-time leading scorer dropped an honest confession about the toughest player he’s ever had to guard in his life. His answer surprised many, considering he didn’t name an NBA player. Instead, James turned his attention to a player he grew up with in Akron, Ohio, Derrick Tarver.

“Oh man. A kid that we grew up with, it’s like our brother now, his name is Derrick Tarver,” James said. “… He was just stronger than everybody at like [expletive] 10 years old. Lefty, brolic, stronger than everybody. And you knew what he was going to do. And it was no way he was going to stop it.

“He still think he can cook me now. And when he see this, he going to be like, I can still cook you now. He can’t cook me no more though.”

Tarver, who went to St. Vincent-St. Mary High School with James, caught wind of the Lakers superstar’s high praise. He responded by admitting that his “back hurts just thinking about playing” James one-on-one.

James replied to his old buddy’s admission with a clear message.

“We had more than enough battles growing up for damn sure!” James wrote on his Instagram stories.

LeBron James responds to Derrick Tarver after the Lakers superstar named him as the toughest player he's ever had to guard

(via @kingjames on IG) pic.twitter.com/vb0jh76970
— Paolo Songco (@PaoloSongcoNBA) September 20, 2025

This exchange seems to confirm that there won’t be a rematch between these two former high school basketball stars. As James said, they’ve had their fair share of on-court clashes when they were kids, and it appears that both are just happy to leave it at that.

Nevertheless, the fact that James named Tarver as his toughest defensive matchup says a lot. He’s battled more than a few NBA legends and Hall of Famers (both present and future) throughout his career, but he still considers one of his childhood friends as the one who stands out the most.

This article first appeared on Athlon Sports and was syndicated with permission.

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