Kobe Bryant Once Signed Devin Booker’s Shoes, and Now the Suns Player Is Getting the Signature Tattooed

Devin Booker was able to get Kobe Bryant‘s autograph before his sudden death alongside eight others in a helicopter crash in January. And now, the Phoenix Suns star is making sure he will have Bryant with him at all times. On Instagram, Booker shared photos of him getting Bryant’s signature tattooed on his arm. The tattoo says “Be Legendary” and it’s located on Booker’s forearm.

There’s a reason Booker has “Be Legendary” on his forearm other than Bryant putting that on his shoes. Back in 2016, the Los Angeles Lakers legend told him to “be legendary.” Booker was at the start of his career at the time while Bryant was on the verge of retiring.

And when Bryant, his daughter Gianna and seven other people died in a helicopter crash on Jan. 26, Booker was very emotional.

“Booker has taken Bryant’s death harder than anyone will ever know,” Duane Ranking of the Arizona Republic wrote. “There he stood on the FedExForum court hours after Bryant died Jan. 26 in a tragic helicopter crash with his oldest daughter, Gianna, and seven others with tears streaming down his face. Like many NBA players, the court is Booker’s haven and no other place he’d rather be. That night may have been an exception. Booker left Memphis wearing a black hoodie with his head down, grieving the loss of Bryant. Like Jordan said Monday, a piece of everyone including Booker died that day.”

Booker, who was named to his first All-Star game this year, recently talked about the impact Bryant made on his life.

“It’s been a lot of what I do, man, mentality wise, approach wise everything, before I even knew him personally, he had shaped my life,” Booker said to the Arizona Republic. “My basketball career. My approach to everything. The biggest thing for me was earning his respect. To even be the guy in the room after we play them that he wanted to talk to or share advice with. Then our relationship had grown from there. Just figuring out what type of person he was outside of the Mamba mentality. How he raised his daughters and how much of a family man he was something that was just incredible.”

Booker continued: “It’s really tough and I don’t think it’s going to change. I think how you manage, or how well manage our emotions moving forward, it’s just a (tough) situation. It’s really tough. I feel for Vanessa and the girls. I feel for all the families that are involved in the incident. I just feel for the world man. I think we’re all missing a piece of us moving forward that’s going to be gone forever.”