There are few players in the history of the NBA that possess the same level of commitment to the game that the late, great Kobe Bryant had. You could say that Milwaukee Bucks superstar Giannis Antetokounmpo is one of them.

If you ask him, however, Giannis would much prefer to leave Kobe out of the conversation. Antetokounmpo has nothing but respect and adoration for the fallen Los Angeles Lakers legend, but for his part, Giannis just wants to keep it real (via Eric Nehm of The Athletic):

“I will never say this, I will never disrespect the name of the great Kobe. I don’t like mentioning him,” Antetokounmpo said. “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.”

It's hard to argue against Giannis statement here. This man has an elite mentality when it comes to perfecting his craft, and he's the type that will never rest on his laurels — just like Kobe.

“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.’”

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Giannis then recalled an unforgettable encounter with Kobe wherein he got a real taste of the famed Mamba Mentality. You have to note that Antetokounmpo's work ethic is as great as they come, but even he was shocked to see the level of commitment Bryant required:

“Again. Again. Again. Again,” Antetokounmpo relayed. “‘My bad, Kobe. How many more times are we gonna do it?’ Twenty-five. ‘OK, 25.’ No, 25 makes. Twenty-five makes on the same move?’ And it’s not like you’re just shooting. You’re going hard. I was like, damn, this guy is different.”

As he said, Giannis was never able to build a strong relationship with Kobe. However, the Bucks superstar truly recognizes Bryant's greatness — something that has clearly had a significant impact on him to this very day.