Giannis Antetokounmpo Says He Doesn't Like Kobe Bryant Comparisons

Giannis Antetokounmpo says that he "will never disrespect" Kobe Bryant and doesn't like being compared to the late Lakers legend.

BYCole Blake
Milwaukee Bucks v Brooklyn Nets - Game Seven

Giannis Antetokounmpo says that he doesn't like to be compared to the great, Kobe Bryant, telling The Athletic's Eric Nehm that he "will never disrespect" the late Lakers legend.

“I will never say this, I will never disrespect the name of the great Kobe. I don’t like mentioning him,” Antetokounmpo told the outlet. “I feel like he should be mentioned, should never be forgotten. But I don’t like mentioning his name to bring attention to the conversation that we are about to have. I wasn’t close to him. I wasn’t this with him or that with him. But I would say this, in some areas of his mindset, I think we’re very similar.”

(Photo by Stacy Revere/Getty Images)

From there, Antetokounmpo made reference to Bryant’s famous “Mamba Mentality,” explaining just how passionate Bryant was about the game of basketball. While the two were friendly on the sidelines, Bryant made it clear they were opponents on the court.

“I might not be as talented as him, but when we’re talking about a guy that worked extremely hard from his first day until he retired. A guy that plays to win, a guy that pushes himself to the limit, a guy that has a killer mentality when he steps on the court,” Antetokounmpo said. “It’s almost like having — I think he had two personalities. Like when we were on the sideline and we were talking and I was taking notes, laughing smiling, joking around, talking. But when we stepped on the court, It was like motherf—er didn’t even know me. ‘I thought you were like my friend.’”

Antetokounmpo and the Bucks began their regular season against the 76ers, earlier this week, winning the matchup 90-88. They will take on the Rockets, Saturday night.

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About The Author
Cole Blake is currently an Editor at HotNewHipHop based out of Brooklyn, New York. He began working at the site as an intern back in 2018 while studying journalism at St. John’s University. In the time since, he’s graduated with a bachelor's degree and written extensively about a wide range of topics including pop culture, film & television, politics, video games, sports, and much more. He’s also covered music festivals such as Gov. Ball and Rolling Loud. You can find him publishing work for HNHH from Monday to Wednesday or on weekends. On the sports front, Cole’s a passionate NBA and NFL fan with his favorite teams being the Indianapolis Colts and Los Angeles Lakers. He also roots for the Yankees whenever he finds himself at Yankee Stadium or the Red Storm when in the company of other SJU alumni. His favorite hip-hop artists are billy woods, Earl Sweatshirt, Cam’ron, MIKE, and Mach-Hommy.