Dominique Wilkins on why Bernard King was the hardest player to guard: "He was the only guy that made me nervous"

Dominique Wilkins played in an era when there were no days off. On a nightly basis, he was matched up against elite small forwards like Larry Bird, Julius Erving, Alex English, Mark Aguirre, Adrian Dantley, James Worthy, Terry Cummings, and Larry Nance, and he had to bring his A-game on defense as well as on offense.

But while Wilkins said he was not scared to match up against any player he faced, he admitted that there was one who intimidated him and always made him anxious - Bernard King .

" I never feared any guy, " said Wilkins. " But he was the only guy that made me nervous."

Bernard's legend grew in New York

King was one of the most feared scorers during the 80s. The 7th overall pick of the 1977 NBA Draft, Bernard was a walking bucket right from the get-go. He averaged 24.2 PPG as a rookie and set the New Jersey Nets franchise record with 1,909 rookie points.

Nique was drafted into the NBA in 1982. When he got in the league, King was traded to the New York Knicks, where his legend further grew. King averaged a career-best 26.3 PPG in his second season in New York. The following year, he led the NBA in scoring at 32.9 PPG.

But just as his career was peaking, King suffered a devastating right leg injury that needed major reconstruction. He missed the entire 1985-86 season while playing just six games during the 1986-87 campaign. Although he made a successful comeback, knee injuries continued to hound King and forced him to retire after the 1992-93 season.

Wilkins said King was unstoppable

Wilkins and King ended up playing 30 head-to-head games. Although The Human Highlight Film got the better of the Knicks legend with a 16-14 record, Dominique professed that Bernard was unstoppable as an offensive player .

"I couldn’t sleep the night before I played this guy," said Wilkins. "Because, Bernard King, I don’t care who you are, how great of a defensive player you are, he’s getting 40. You could not stop him. You might slow him down for a little while but he never stopped moving. He moved all the time."

Wilkins never made an All-Defensive team in the NBA, but he was no slouch as a defender. For him to get intimidated by King says a lot about the former NBA scoring champion. Not many fans remember Bernard King. But for those who played against him, he was a defensive player's worst nightmare.

Related: "I had nine spots on the left, nine spots on the right" - Bernard King reveals the secrets to his systematic way of scoring