Suns’ Devin Booker: ‘I should never be compared to Kobe Bryant’

Devin Booker made it clear that he does not want to be compared to the late great Kobe Bryant.

“I haven’t really thought about it much,” Booker told ESPN The Jump’s Richard Jefferson. “I know it’s something everyone has going on right now. You know I did not make that comparison myself.

“I just leave it at what he has done for me as a mentor and the advice he has left me with. I try and take bits and pieces of his mentality and approach, but I should never be compared to Kobe Bryant.”

ESPN’s Stephen A. Smith made the same comparison after Game 1 against the Clippers and did not skate around the topic.

“Devin Booker is the next Kobe Bryant. I’m saying it on national television, Devin Booker is the next Kobe Bryant,” Smith said.

“Be legendary” is a phrase that Bryant bestowed to a young Booker on a pair of shoes back in 2016 after a showdown against the Los Angeles Lakers.

After the passing of Bryant, Booker had the term tattooed onto his forearm to commemorate and take a piece of Bryant with him.

As his career has taken off, the Suns guard has drawn more and more comparisons to the Black Mamba, as Booker’s mid-range jumper and scoring ability has an uncanny similarity to Bryant, a skill that is fading in todays NBA.

Kobe Bryant signed shoes for Devin Booker back in 2016 and told him to ‘Be Legendary’

Today, Devin Booker reveals a new ‘Be Legendary’ tattoo 🙌 pic.twitter.com/57xCGFxTm3

— Dime (@DimeUPROXX) March 4, 2020