Devin Booker denies he disrespected Bronny James during Suns' loss to Lakers

Devin Booker has told the media several times he never disrespects his opponents.

And he had to do it again when referencing Bronny James, the Los Angeles Lakers rookie and son of LeBron James.

On Saturday, Booker denied a rumor on X — formerly Twitter — started from a viral video clip about Bronny that claimed Booker said, "He's just no good."

Booker responded with a caption, "50k of y'all need help."

The video posted by someone who owns the X handle @NiteNiteCurry has a caption that reads, "They caught Devin Booker talkin (explicative) after Bronny bricks it," with three skulls emojis to indicate laughter, followed by the alleged quote by Booker.

The Phoenix Suns All-Star was on the bench smiling while mouthing something during Bronny's two straight missed free throws early in the fourth quarter of the Suns' 128-122 overtime preseason home loss to the Lakers Thursday.

Booker's "50k" remark refers to the 58,000-plus people who've liked the post. He clapped back at them for errantly reading his lips as if he mocked Bronny, who had four points and two rebounds in the win.

Booker led the Suns with 22 points.

The buzz during the game originally centered on Dalton Knecht's 35-point late game takeover . Social media shifted to Booker and Bronny, who averaged just 4.8 points, 2.8 rebounds, and 2.1 assists off the bench in his sole college season on a mediocre USC team that went 15-18.

Bronny averaged just 1.6 points, 1.2 rebounds, 0.8 blocks, shot 17.3% in 12.2 in the Lakers' first five preseason games but had his strongest outing in their 132-74 preseason finale loss at Golden State on Friday, posting 17 points, four rebounds, three steals and a block in 35 minutes.

This article originally appeared on Arizona Republic: Devin Booker denies he disrespected Bronny James during Suns' loss to Lakers