The Phoenix Suns are playing their best basketball in a decade. For the first time in 10 years, the team from Arizona has reached the Playoffs and they didn’t just stop there.

They started with eliminating the running champions the Los Angeles Lakers in the first round of the Playoffs.

Devin Booker, the Suns’ leading scorer, had 47 points in game six of the series, hitting eight three-pointers and handing LeBron James his first early Playoff exit in his 18 years in the league.

Next were the Denver Nuggets and the league MVP Nikola Jokic. The Suns, led by Booker who averaged 25 points per game in that series, swept the Nuggets with an average winning margin of almost 16 points per game.

The real explosion of Booker followed in the first game of the Western Conference finals against the Los Angeles Clippers.

Playing without the leading point guard Chris Paul, Booker put his team on his back and led them to a victory recording a triple-double with 40 points, 13 rebounds, and 11 assists.

The basketball world was already aware of Booker’s potential but that game right there put him on another level. His offensive aggressiveness and scoring at will from anywhere on the court was something that not many players have done.

Everybody in the basketball world was impressed by Booker’s performance but how good he actually played was best described but one of the best in the business.

“Devin Booker is the next Kobe Bryant. I’m saying it on national television. It is official” was the statement from Steven A. Smith after that game.

So is the comparison with Kobe appropriate?

When the Lakers legend was Booker’s age he already had won three NBA championships, Bookers hasn’t won any. As a matter of fact, Booker is playing his first Playoffs in his sixth season in the league. Kobe played in the Playoffs in each of his first six seasons. By the age of 24, Kobe had five All-Star selections, Booker has only two.

So if we talk about achievements, it is too early to compare Booker to one of the greatest ever, right?

But let’s take all the circumstances into account.

Booker started his career in one of the worst teams in the league at the time with no superstar teammate. The Suns’ roster wasn’t competitive at all in the powerful Western Conference. The team was changing coaching staff frequently and couldn’t find its identity

None of the quality-free agents was willing to sign for a team with no clear future and an unsuccessful past.

Luckily for them, they drafted a young 19-years-old kid who didn’t even start for the University of Kentucky in his only college season.

Kobe on the other hand was playing alongside Shaquille O’Neal, the most dominant player at the time. When Kobe arrived in LA, the Lakers were building a team that will dominate in the years to come. As a matter of fact, Kobe was the only piece they were missing to get to the top.

Oppositely, Booker was the first piece of the puzzle in Phoenix so he needed time to get to the spotlight which he finally did this year. The Suns finally found an experienced coach in Monty Williams who managed to do miracles with his young roster. Chris Paul is the floor general who runs perfectly both the offense and defense. Deandre Ayton is emerging as one of the best young centers in the league who benefit from playing alongside guards like Paul and Booker.

So Kobe and Booker had totally different paths in their first six seasons. What makes them similar is that Booker is showing the winning mentality that Kobe had. He never backs down, he always finds a way to score under pressure no matter who is guarding him.

Booker’s game so far has led the Suns to a place no one could have seen them go. If the Michigan-born guard takes them over the Clippers and over the Eastern Conference winner, then yes, we have the next Kobe Bryant.