The late, great Kobe Bryant certainly had a major impact on a lot of the stars in the NBA today, including Brooklyn Nets superstar Kevin Durant.

In an exclusive interview with Taylor Rooks of Bleacher Report, Durant explained how Bryant impacted him as a player. Durant mostly shared about his experience with Kobe in the 2012 Olympics, and how being around the Los Angeles Lakers legend changed his approach to the game (Quote at the 10:20 mark of the video below):

“Just the first few practices of Team USA in 2012. Just his approach to practice and then also how he played the games and his focus on what he wanted to do out there on the court. He was a defender for us and a shotmaker. So to see Kobe play a role outside of just being the main scorer, it showed me that anybody can lock into a role and perfect it.”

Durant also admitted how he always wanted to be like Bryant in a lot of ways, but only really appreciated Kobe's methods and realized its value as he got older:

“As a hooper, I wanted his aesthetic as a player. It was pretty sweet to see his methods. I didn't really get to appreciate it until I got older as a player and start to see, ‘Oh that's what he meant' when he was doing it this way. I'm always going to live with Kobe in my heart.”

The loss of one of the greatest legends in the history of the NBA has certainly had a huge impact on not just players like Durant, but also the entire world.

But as the Nets star mentioned, the best thing we can all do by Kobe is to continue living on the words he preached by and the Mamba Mentality that he always advocated.

Live on, Kobe.