Kyrie Irving vs Damian Lillard: Who's better? A statistical comparison

#4 Defense

Lillard and Irving go for the loose ball at the USA Basketball Showcase, 2013

Neither Lillard nor Kyrie has ever been anything better than an average defender through their time in the league. Kyrie, in particular, is prone to periods of lackadaisical attention on help defense and is guilty of making the wrong reads, though he improved a lot on his defensive instincts during his past season with the Celtics.

Their defensive numbers don't present much of a contrast as well. According to Basketball Reference, Kyrie's career Defensive Box Plus Minus (DBPM) average is -1.4 while Lillard's average is -1.5. Their counting stats are pretty similar too - Kyrie averages 1.3 steals and 0.3 blocks per game while Lillard's averages are 0.9 steals and 0.3 blocks respectively.

Both of them are prime pick-and-roll fodder, as they get killed by screening actions and leave defenses to the mercy of the ballhandler.

Edge: It's a wash