No question! <3

To me it's Lucas or Nathan

Duh!

Obvious Lucas and Nathan at the same level... they are guys , and they are protective.

No contest!

You are always saving me.

^ Exactly what came into my mind :)

Defintly!!!!
-He`s always so protective of Haley & Jamie! ;-D

chris keller, anyone?? :)

uhh. really? lmao.

...jumping into peyton's car when she was running red lights, anyone?
...college guy that slipped peyton drugs, anyone?
...going into peyton's house with a rake, anyone?
...keeping peyton's dad from leaving, anyone?
...warning peyton about ellie buying drugs, anyone?
...punching dan for insulting & pushing peyton, anyone?
...wanting to check on peyton during the power outage, anyone?
...school shooting, anyone?
...psycho derek, anyone?
...asking real derek to be there for peyton, anyone?
...warning real derek to take it easy on peyton, anyone?
..."either way, I will be alright, don't worry about me"... "you know I will", anyone?
...pregnancy complications, anyone?

not to even mention all the other times he was protective over haley and his family!

I think that if you look at who's been the most protective over one person specifically... then Nathan has definitely been the most protective of Haley.

But the reason I chose Lucas is because Lucas was protective of everyone. How many times has he done things in order to save/rescue/protect/or honor Haley, Brooke, Peyton, Nathan, Mouth, Skills, Keith, Karen, Jamie, Dan...etc.
He's put his life on the line for many of them, he's stood up for them when they've been insulted or threatened, he's encouraged them when they've been down, he's stood by their side even when they felt alone, he's tried to defend their honor (verbally and physically)...etc. He's done pretty much all those things for at least 9 different characters on the show on numerous occasions.

I think that if you look at who's been the most protective over one person specifically... then Nathan has definitely been the most protective of Haley.

Completely disagree. I think Lucas was WAY more protective of Peyton, than Nathan's ever been of Haley. Or atleast, we've SEEN more of it from LP. Just look at TBSAC's long list of Lucas' protective moments, over Peyton alone. And that doesn't even cover them all. Each of those listed examples/storylines come with TONS of little scenes, showing how protective Lucas was over her. But only like 5 real protective scenes come to mind for me, regarding Naley. Maybe that's just me though...

^^ Ditto!

I agree that Lucas is protective... hence my answer that Lucas is the most protective. He's done everything listed here by others plus a million more things for everyone on the show... from huge things like trying to take the fall for Nathan's point shaving to small things like getting into a fight with Felix after Felix insulted Mouth.
So I definitely agree that Lucas is protective. I just think that part of Lucas's character is being protective of the people he loves... while part of Nathan's character is being protective of Haley (since I can only think of a few examples of times he was protective of anyone else besides Haley). So when I think of someone who protects, defends, and rescues- I think Lucas. When I think of someone who really only protects one person specifically- that's Nathan. If anything, sometimes Nathan is OVER protective... Haley has even scolded him on numerous occasions saying she is not a damsel in distress and he doesn't need to always be protecting her. I'd say more than half the episodes have some sort of moment with Nathan is being protective, defending, or rescuing Haley.
These are just the first ones that popped into my head, but if I spent more time thinking about it- I'm sure I could think of more..
- when he calls Brooke a bitch for reading Haley's letter to Nathan aloud in Life in a Glass House
- the millions of occasions when nathan insulted dan for hating on haley
- when nathan punched dan for insulting haley
- when nathan spent season 2 defending haley every time deb insulted her
- when felix started hitting on haley and nathan quickly became protective and intervened
- tons of interactions with chris keller and nathan telling him not to screw with haley
- when chris keller threw away all the $ nathan gave him to help haley record a new album, nathan started fighting with chris once again b/c he thought haley was getting screwed over
- when lucas says haleys changed at the sparkle classic, nathan quickly defends her by saying that its lucas who has the problem not haley
- when the girls at school tease haley after she gets back from her tour and nathan walks her through the hall with his hand on her back protecting her
- when haley falls down and embarrasses herself in front of everyone at the halloween dance and nathan picks her up to rescue her.
- when nathan starts brutally beating daunte for hitting haley with his car
- when nathan goes to principal turner and tells him that haley shouldnt have to suffer b/c of his mistakes and she should be valedictorian
-running back into the school during the school shooting b/c haley was inside
- when haley is unsure of their decision to get married and starts to break down and nathan promises to always protect her
- when nathan tells his grandfather to shut up after royal says that haley has a big mouth
- when he rescues haley from drowning in season 7
- when he works to help haley out of her depression in season 7
- when he starts to get into a fight with jason after jason sexually assaulted haley
- when the guys in the bar in the season 5 flashback call haley fat and nathan then starts to fight with them.

Once again, I think Lucas is the most protective of everyone on the show. While I think Nathan is the most protective of one character on the show, Lucas is the most protective of almost everyone on the show.

But everyone's opinions vary... and depending on what characters/couples people like, we each probably see things slightly differently.

Does anybody even read the novel lists? nope.