"People are here yelling Mamba mentality from their mama's house" — When Devin Booker shut down Kobe Bryant comparisons

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker has been one of the few players compared to Kobe Bryant . Like the Los Angeles Lakers legend, Book is a scoring machine with excellent footwork.

I'm not Kobe Bryant

While the comparisons to Kobe are compliments, Booker isn't too pleased with them. He even shut them down with a hilarious quip.

"I'm really enjoying this, and I always have enjoyed social media," Booker said in 2022, on social media affects his game. "I check it daily, and when they're saying good things about it, I don't get too high, I don't get too low on it. The only problem I have is people still comparing me to Kobe Bryant when I told them in the playoffs stop bringing up Mamba mentality. I'm inspired by Kobe Bryant and Mamba mentality, but I am not Kobe Bryant."

"And people are out here yelling Mamba mentality from their mama's house. I'll leave you with that," Book said, before abruptly leaving the post-game presser.

Perhaps the four-time All-Star referred to the couch potatoes who know nothing much about basketball but insist on sharing their comments online. It's a free world, and anyone can say whatever they want. But the Sun's star might have had enough of the comparisons.

Olympic Book

Book wants to chart his path and so far, he's been successful at it. Nowadays, we rarely see such comparisons made by analysts and fans.

Devin doesn't want to be known as a Kobe carbon copy. And from the looks of it, he's using the Olympics as a platform to prove that he's a completely different player.

At face value, the guard was selected because of his scoring prowes. But being an Olympian in basketball means you can tweak your game to accommodate the rest. According to Steve Kerr, Book is the most adaptable player on Team USA .

"He's probably been the guy who's been most adaptable to go from a different role in the NBA to a new one here," Kerr said. " He's such a big scorer in the league, but just like in Tokyo, he's adapted to being an on-ball guy, ball mover, the offense clicks when he's out there and the defense is really good. That's why he's started every game and seems to be good with any combination."

Maybe this is what Booker will be known for. He's an offensive juggernaut who can drop 70 on you in the NBA. But if the task doesn't require his offensive skills, Devin can just press a button and be a completely different but equally effective player.

Related: Avery johnson explains what makes Devin Booker one of the most misunderstood stars in the NBA: "He’s got a mean streak"