You can ask all the best players in the NBA - there's not one player in the NBA that guards them like me.
That's what people don't understand, that in the NBA these are the best 450 players in the world, in the game of basketball, are in the NBA.
Even before I made my high school team, I'd say I want to be a NBA player, and people laughed at me with, 'Get out of here, you ain't going to be a NBA player. You don't even play basketball.'
It's tough at first. You realize in the NBA, it's not easy. Each and every night, you're playing against that player that was the best high school player, that player that was the best player on his college team.
As NBA players, so much of the game is mental, as far as confidence and playing against the best players in the world.
The key about playing internationally is the confidence that you gain. Not only do you train with some of the best players in the NBA, but you compete against some of the best players in the world.
A lot has to be the NBA. I don't know if I can say it is the egos of the players or the money that goes around and everything. But those relationships between the coaches and the players are just not the same. They are not even close to the European coach-player relationships.
This is the pinnacle of the basketball world, you know, in the NBA you're playing against the best guys in the world, and best defensive players in the world, so you have to be able to outthink them and make the right decisions.
Of course, Eden is a fantastic player, one of the best players in the world. He's my friend, one of the best players I've played with in my whole career.
NBA has a selfish rationale. It saves the owners money by delaying the time a player gets to a second, more lucrative contract. Even the player's union is on board. There are only 450 jobs in the NBA, and the one-and-done protects veterans' jobs.
I'm the NBA's best NFL player, and I've always been the sexiest 7-footer in the NBA - for 12 years running.
When you look across the board at the count of NBA quality players that are on various international teams in Europe, Latin America, the Middle East and Asia, there are good players all over the world now. It's just not in the NBA where America has the most talent.
To be a Premier League player is something that not everyone can say; even some of the best players in the world can't say that!
To play at Chelsea is a dream for any player. It is standing next to some of the best players in the world and competing with the world's best as well.
Marta is one of my favourite players, and one of the best players I've had the privilege of coming up against, so I say this with the greatest respect: there are other players who were in a much stronger position to be named the best female player of 2018.
There were great European players that were great basketball players that did not make it in the NBA... This is the best league in the world.