 Devin, welcome to In The Zone. I appreciate it. Great to have you, man. You're having a great season. Appreciate that. I was reading on your Twitter that you buddies with the Rock. Not buddies. Lookalikes, isn't it? Yes, I guess. I went with the turtleneck with the little chain for one of my games since I've been sitting out. And our social media account made a comparison. He responded. So I grew up a Rock fan. So now I responded to him. And there's a little connection there now. I say he's going to buy you a fanny pack if you win the title. I got to go for that title then. He said I personalized him. I personalized him from the Rock. That'd be a big deal to me. Yeah, yeah. That's cool. That's cool. I know you're a huge fan of Kobe Bryant. We just saw his jerseys retired recently, both of them. Kobe wrote on your shoes for you. Was it last year? Be legendary. That was my rookie year. Rookie year. Be legendary. Tell me the story behind that. My security when we were at Kentucky, Robert Lorre, Horsfield Lakers also. While I was at Kentucky, he always told me. He was like, I love your mindset. You remind me of being. You remind me of being. And I've gotten that comparison from a mindset standpoint, competitive nature standpoint. But obviously, I won't put myself on that pedestal yet. But I always wanted that reputation, that dog-like attitude. Every time I'm on the court, I'm a killer. And every story you hear about Kobe is that. And so he set out the first two games we played them that year. But it was his last time at Phoenix, and we knew he was going to play. So I was really excited for that game. Got the extra rest. Everything woke up stretch. No stretch usually in the morning, but it's a special day playing against Kobe Bryant. His last year, my first year. So I hit Robert Lorre. It was like, is there any way I can get some shoe sign from him after the game? And he was like, I'll see what I can do. So game ended. We ended up winning that game. Won a no versus Kobe. 20 years. We still won a no. Still won a no. But no, Robert Lorre came and grabbed me, brought me back to the locker room. Instead of signing the shoes, I mean, that was a great part of it. But just getting the chance to speak with him. 10, 15 minutes. He had all the ice bags on. Shoes in the ice tub, because he was going through it that season trying to perform for everybody. But just getting the chance to talk to him, he left me with some good things to think about that I still think about today. Yeah, what did he tell you? I'd say just that mindset. For me, he was like, you have everything it takes. Just what is your game going to be? Every night in, every night out, that's what we want. He said, what are you going to be? You've got to learn who you're going against now. You have to study the top dogs. Then he said, you should be studying Golden State every night. You should be watching their film. And hearing that from Kobe, that just makes you want to lock in that much more and then be legendary. He's basically, to me, I think that is the next one out. Let's do it. That's how I took it. So every time I'm out there, I want to go in with that mindset. He, the Jersey Retirement, a lot of people talking about where he ranks all time. What do you think? That's a tough question. See, it's generation-wise for me. It's hard to just do a top five all time because the game was so different in each generation. But me and the young, I have to do top five for sure. That's the way that he impacted the game. He changed the game. If you want to look at numbers, efficiency, and all that, I'm throwing all that out the window. He was a dog, five titles with Kobe's the man. He had an effect on this game of basketball. In my life, personally, not many people will ever have. Did he know when you talked to him, did he know you had this reputation for kind of being a similar mentality to him or not? I think you did. I think the media brought it by him. Postgame, before I had the chance to speak with him. I ended up seeing that after the game. How did you end up scoring that game? 26, 27, not sure. Y'all were matched up one-on-one? No, I don't know. We actually didn't match up much at all. I know I caught it one time in the post against him. I missed a shot, but a shot, his kind of fade away. And he said something. He was like, that's crazy. You went right to my move. He said, I did the same thing when I played against Jordan for the first time. Kobe told me that, and I was like, wow. So there's a picture of it. I missed a shot, but a picture you can't tell. I missed a shot. So I'm gonna hang that picture up. And say you made it. 20 years from now, I made that shot. What is that like playing? I mean, I don't know if you had posters on your wall, but obviously he was a hero, yours growing up. Unbelievable, and it's crazy. I said now to our rookies or our second-year players, I had the chance to play against Kobe Bryant, Tim Duncan, Kevin Garnett. I'm a vet now, that's how I feel. So those are legends of the game that I grew up watching. I grew up in Myring, and I had the chance to play against the guys in there last year. But it's crazy, I had LeBron on my wall, Kevin Durant on my wall, and now I'm matched up with these guys night in, night out. How did you develop that killer instinct? Because not everybody has that. Yeah, I'll say I was just born with it, honestly. It just started with, you know, just hating losing. You know, people always say I hate losing more than I like winning, and that was my mindset. I never liked being bad at anything. It was ping pong, it was pool, everything I did with my friends. If I wasn't the best at it, I had to keep doing it. So basketball is that sport that you can't perfect. You know, somebody's always gonna be better than you at something, so that's the beauty of the sport. That's what keeps people driven. So for me, you know, that's the love for the game. You know, you have to get better every time you go out there. You know what's interesting, because when you think of guys with the killer mindset, you, Kobe, Michael Jordan, not putting you with those guys, but a lot of those guys, all of y'all, they grew up in the suburbs. And a lot of times people think the game is just inner city. I know your dad moved you to Mississippi to get that toughness. What do you think about, I mean, you guys are all from the suburbs. Even a lot of the best players now, Carl Anthony Towns and guys like that. What do you think that says about, like the game isn't as much inner city as people think, at least nowadays? I think you need a taste of the inner city somewhere in your bloodline or somewhere part of your career. You know, I feel like everybody's playing the suburbs, had to went to those inner city schools and play the game against it and seen that. And, you know, for me, that was my move to Mississippi. So do you feel like you had that killer before you went to Mississippi? Because you went your sophomore year in high school, right? Yeah, I'd say I had the killer, but it wasn't on full display yet. You know, I feel like it was always in me, like I said, I always wanted to be the best, but I took it to a whole other level where, you know, it's either be eating mentality when I got to Mississippi. So, you know, for me, that kind of changed. Like I'll always credit him. I would never say, you know, I'll suffer anything like that, but also being light-skinned, man. You know, people, you always got target on your back being light-skinned. So, you know, you got to let people know. So what was that like for you culturally to go? Because Grand Rapids or suburban Grand Rapids, you were all white environment pretty much. I guess all black or mostly black in Mississippi. What was that like culturally for you? It was different. I didn't like it at first. I used to call my mom, you know, I'm ready to come back home. You know, it was a whole different world for me, but, you know, I couldn't leave that blueprint. When I say blueprint, I was my father. You know, he had all the answers for me. He asked me, is this what you want to do? And then we were just talking about a full ride, full ride scholarship to school. We weren't even thinking about the NBA. So, that's what I wanted. And he knew that. So, you know, I had to go through some growing pains down there, but ended up being the best move of my life. Now I feel like I'm culturally diverse. I can fit in any environment and not credit that to a lot of my success. Your dad, Melvin Booker, played in the NBA briefly. When were you able to beat him one-on-one? We've never played one-on-one. Really? People always ask us that. He'll probably still say he could beat me one-on-one. That's the crazy part. He plays in some men's leagues in Phoenix and dominates them. So, people... Well, he's not that old, right? No, 40 or 45 or so. So, everybody always comes up to me and is like, I see where you get your moves from. Everybody around the city of Phoenix. He's like, I've seen your dad in the gym. You guys play a lot of like. So, now he's more post-work in the gym, but we've never played one-on-one. You mentioned the light-skinned thing. Yeah. Talk about that, because I know what you're talking about, but a lot of people might not understand that. I mean, people just... I say light-skinned, people have the perception of just being soft. People feel like they can punk you. That we say you're not built like that. That's how we say it. And for me, you have to let people know from the beginning. And that's why the first impression, right when I got to the league, was that can't be your mindset. Because once people have that title on you, then they're at you. Was there ever an incident, whether it was high school, college or pro, that you had to, somebody challenged you on that and you had to show, or do the eyes talk trash about that? I'd say when I first moved to Mississippi, going to all black school, then they called me white boy. I was a white boy at that school. So it was a big difference for me from, like you said, in the suburbs, being the black kid to going to the intercity school, being the white kid, but I got through it. I was fine. Like I said, my mentality, my mindset just overrules all that. Man, look, a lot of, if not most of the best young players coming up now, light skinned. That's true. Y'all ever talk about that? That's true. Carl, Ben Simmons, you know, Lanzo. Light skins are taking over. The duck contest, right? Oh, that's true. Yep. Zach, for sure. Oh, I take pride in that. For sure. I tell dude, Steph Clay. We're up there, we're doing our thing. Yeah, yeah. But Kobe Bryant, is he your favorite player all the time? Favorite player of all time? I don't know if I can do that growing up a Pistons fan. So that was tough for us. But, you know, I respect him so much. To the highest standard, I respect Kobe Bryant and always will forever, but I always say my favorite player growing up was Rip Hamilton. Oh, you had to say that for Michigan. No, I used to make a fake mask and play on my little hoop in my room. So Rip Hamilton, you know, he was my favorite player growing up. A big debate is Kobe or LeBron, like the two best players of these generations. Who would you take? For what? As the best player. See, I don't like these questions of comparing people. Cause everybody knows, you know, you can't replace Kobe's mindset. You can't replace his will to win, but at the same time, can't disrespect LeBron and the complete player that he is of getting his team involved to being able to score and now early on they said, you know, he wasn't clutched and now he has big shots all the time too. So, I mean, number wise, obviously LeBron, but you know that mentality and for me personally, I feel like I relate more to Kobe Bryant. So I can't pick one, man. Don't do that to me. Now you, Earl Watson, your former coach, he was on the, in his own recently. I heard about this. I heard about this. Well, he said that you told him you're better than Michael George. So give me the story with that. Man, me and Earl talked after every practice. There was a lot of conversations and surprisingly that probably isn't the craziest one. He says some things also, but you know, for me, you know, he will set the question up. He'd be like, you think you're better than Michael Jordan? And you know how we're raised. I'm not gonna say no. I'm not gonna say no. So, yes, I think I was better than Michael Jordan, but when I say that, you know, it's more of a mindset thing. You know, never say someone's better than you. You know, you're gonna work to be the best. That's why you play the game to be the best. So, you know, I didn't literally mean I'm better than Michael Jordan in his prime, but you know, I wanna be the best at what I do. Have you seen him since then, Jordan? No, I have not. I have not. Have you met him? Yeah, I've met him a few times. He probably wasn't as big to you as Kobe just because you didn't get to see him. Right, because I grew up in him for sure. And I'm so young that honestly, LeBron probably had the most effect on my generation. Yeah, yeah. You know, Kobe was probably like five, 10 years. So it's crazy how that happened, but yeah, I watched a lot of Mike, watched a lot of film. Do you watch a ton of film? Like other guys. Who's, you watch him more than anybody, do you think? No, I watch a lot of Kobe. I watch Kobe the most from a full-weight standpoint. And he got a lot of his from Mike too. Exactly, so. Earl said also that he thinks you can be the best son's player ever. That's obviously saying a lot. It's probably, I think, Charles Barkley at this point. What are your feelings on that? That's a big statement. Has he ever told you that? Did he ever tell you that? He did tell me that. Okay. I mean, Earl was behind me 100%. People don't know the story behind me at Earl. He was my player development first. So when I wasn't playing as a rookie, we used to spend an extra time in the gym. He was telling me then, you're gonna be special. You're gonna be really special. And then, you know, Horace got fired. He ended up being a head coach. And he was behind me 100%. He said, I think, you know, the quote from Charles Barkley said, I know you're gonna fail. You're a young player in this league, but you know, we're gonna go through you. Yeah, that's when your numbers start picking up. Exactly. And, you know, it wasn't obviously as fishing then. You know, I was 18, 19 at the time. Then the number one option. So seeing teams, best defenders. And like Earl said, you know, it was tough for me. You know, I was struggling a lot. But he was like, you know, it's gonna be better for you in the long run if we go through you now. And you know, now, you know, the game's slowing down for me. And I'm getting better every day. So, you know, I credit Earl for a lot of my success. He said he thinks you can, he could see you playing like a James Harden, handling the ball, running off. It's almost like a point. Do you, is that how you kind of would like to play or? Um, you know, I don't mind it. You know, I do it in spurts right now. I like being off the ball. So too, running off screens. But, you know, that's what the game changed. So you look at the two MVP's last year of Russell Westbrook, James Harden. They have the ball in their hand a lot, playing in a lot of pick and rolls and with the passing ability, actually with the way they can score, opens up easy for the passing ability. So, and I can see myself doing a little bit of that. You scored a 70 against Boston and Earl told me that the coach, Brad Stevens, wanted him to take you out. Cause you, the game was pretty much over. Yeah. Were you aware of that? Yeah. The Boston Southeast players were upset. The coaching staff was upset. Like I said, Earl's behind me 100%. You know, he wanted to see me succeed. And his mindset was the same mindset as ours. You know, if you don't like it, then stop it. Yeah. They ended up winning the game. Crazy game of my career. I hear about it probably every day now, but I said Earl, Earl wanted to see me succeed. That's that Kobe mentality. For sure. You go for 70. Yeah, for sure. You have to have some type of mentality just in the zone, honestly. That's crazy. You don't want to answer these. I was going to ask you, who's the best big man in the league? That's not your position, so you got the best big man in the league? Best big man. I'm going to go Carl. College too, man. Yeah, okay, okay. I'm going to Carl. There's man, there's some good bids out there. DeMarcus is having a hell of a season. Yeah, yeah. All the Kentucky guys. You like the Kentucky, I mean, the Kentucky team is crazy. If you had an all Kentucky team, John Wall, you, Carl Anthony Towns, DeMarcus Cousins, Anthony Davis, how would y'all do against, say, the Warriors? We beat them. I'm going, yeah. I don't know who would beat y'all. That's the heck of a team. Yeah, I like that team right there. That's six, six and above too. Yeah, yeah. That's a tough team right there. Our bench is solid also. Yeah, who else is? I've got Bledsoe, Tyler, Gilchrist, it's a lot of Kentucky guys. When you went there, did you think, because obviously you wanted to get to the NBA, and you want to shine. Were you concerned at all about, okay, my number's not going to be as big at Kentucky just because we got so many other guys too? We were all concerned at first. I never started a game in college. That's an example, yeah. I never started a game in college. So with our freshman class, me, Tyler, you as my teammate now, Carl Townsend, Trey Liles, we went in thinking it's going to be our team. We're thinking Willie Coley-Stine's about to leave. The Harrison Twins are going to the NBA, so they all decided to stay. We're calling coach like, how is this going to work? You know what I'm saying? Now we have 10 McDonald's All-Americans on one team. Coach says it's going to work. He said everybody's going to eat. So we trusted him. That's where the platoon system started. Five people in, five people out. At the beginning, none of us liked that either. You can't catch your rhythm. You're out there two, three minutes, but one group wasn't playing. The other group was headed right in. We called them reinforcements. So it ended up working out for all of us. We had four lottery picks that year. Crazy year, but Cal wants the best for you. You want you to go to the NBA. You want you to succeed, and that was another great decision I made in my life. Did you guys ever play freshman versus the upperclassmen? Early on we did, in the open gyms when we first got there. I'm taking your freshman one. There was battles, honestly. We were straight out of high school. Obviously we were talented, but they had that years of experience in college ahead of us. But there's definitely some battles, some arguments. Yeah, there's a lot of competing in there. Who's the toughest player for you to go against in the NBA? I'll say Kevin Durant. So you end up guarding him? Yeah, I did sometimes. That height, I guess. He's a guard. He plays with three sometimes. He's just seven foot playing like a guard, man. So many moves. All his shots are uncontested. He's so tall. He can score at all three levels. Just super talented, man. What do you think about, I mean, you see now with super teams, he obviously went to Golden State before that, LeBron and Wade and Vash and Miami. Chris Paul goes to join James Hart. What do you think about that? Like going to join other stars? I think now is something that you have to do. Now I have to say the warrior started it. Just to be able to compete with that team. To be able to compete. And that's where the game has went to. Me personally, I wouldn't like to do that. I don't plan on doing that. But at the end of the day, everybody wants to win. That's why we play the game. And the Warriors set the standard so high where other people had to follow suit. How are we gonna figure this out? Chris Paul wants to be known as a winner. He wants a championship. That's why you play the game. So I understand the decisions that people are making now. But I say that Warriors change the NBA. How have you dealt with, I mean obviously you guys have kind of struggled in your three years here. How does that impact you to just constant losing and not really being a playoff team? It's tough, man. Because if you're an NBA, you've grown up being the best player from probably a long time ago. You always probably grew up on a winning team like I did. So I've been a winner most of my career went to Kentucky, only lost one game. So for me it was a total shock. Just losing. Nightingale you can lose five, six, seven, eight games straight. And traveling different cities you can get down to yourself but you just have to find that within you. Remember why you're playing the game. Remember when you're the kid in the stands that wanted to be on that court so bad. So when we're struggling, Tyson, all our vets always say remember why you're here. And that's to get better. Obviously we have a young team that has to develop. And I think we're on the right path. We have a good young court that's getting better with experience. What will they have to do, the sons, to make sure they keep you? I mean, obviously off you to Max, which I'm sure they will, but. Man, I just want to win. And I'm sure they do too. Everybody in our program wants to win. And that's a lot of responsibility for me too. I'm willing to take on whatever I have to do to turn this thing around with the young group that we have, just on the right page and start winning. So you like the idea of building, like Michael Jordan, we went to the Bulls and we're a bad team. He built them into a champion. For sure, that'd be great. Especially now losing, being able to win later in my career sooner than later, hopefully. That's what I'm looking forward to. You scored 46 recently against Philadelphia. Ben Simmons, Joel, and you outscored both of them combined. Somebody, I'm not going to say who told me that that was a message game from you. That was a statement, because obviously they're getting a ton of love. That was a statement. So I know you got the Kobe Bryant mindset, Mamba mentality, so talk about that. I was trying to win the game, man. That's it. Whatever I had to do to win the game. How well do you know them and some of the other great young players that are your age? Giannis, I know Carl, obviously. Well, we know all these guys now. With AAU, we grew up and can't ball together. Like you said, Philly, me and Joel have the same agent, so we see each other a lot. But there's a lot of young talented guys in this league that I enjoy matching up against. You hear about these guys, and they probably hear about me too, so we match up. We see us, we're the future of the league, and I feel like the league's under the good hands. Do you, how do you feel about your, you think your all-star chances are pretty good, or you feel like the team record just hurts it? Team record definitely hurts it. I mean, it feels numbers-wise, and I don't see why not. Like I said, whatever happens, trying to win, turn this thing around, get some wins, and maybe I can start thinking about that. All right, well look, man. I appreciate the time. I appreciate you. Keep up the good work, man. We've really got a bright future, and I'll enjoy watching you for sure. I appreciate that, thank you. And you represent the Lyskin Brothers too. I got you. We need it. For sure.