In his 17th season, Kevin Durant is looking forward to a healthy homecoming in February 2025. Before entering the professional spectrum in 2007, KD had a successful college career in Texas. Although the superstar only played one season for the Texas Longhorns, he turned it into a historic run. 16 years after the impressive run Slim Reaper has the perfect opportunity to return to college. However, Durant’s partner, Devin Booker, may not have a rewarding experience there. Let’s find out why.

With less than two months left until the 2024-25 NBA season, the league has dropped the highly anticipated schedule and rescheduled a game between the San Antonio Spurs and Phoenix Suns at the Moody Center on February 20 as part of a “special NBA game on campus”. Notably, it is the Longhorns’ newest arena, opening in 2022. KD played its 2006-07 season at the historic Frank Erwin Center, which was demolished in May 2024.

Even though Kevin Durant hasn’t played in the new arena yet, he’s very important to the university. The Longhorns’ basketball facility and the entrance to the Denton A. Cooley Pavilion are named after him because he contributed $3 million to its construction. For his teammate Devin Booker, however, visiting the University of Texas’ home arena is unlikely to be a pleasant experience. And there’s a good reason for that.

Since the introduction of the Star Guard’s signature shoe line Nike Book 1, it has become a sought-after sneaker. However, there is a version of it that D-Book doesn’t really like it. It’s LA Clippers player PJ Tucker’s exclusive colorway. In Tucker’s words, he named the sneaker “Texas vs. Kentucky” on his IG, representing the Longhorns and Kentucky Wildcats. And the former Wildcats guard publicly disliked it.

Why didn’t Devin Booker like PJ Tucker’s color scheme?

Tucker’s version of Book 1 has two dominant colors. Orange/tangerine represents the Longhorns and blue represents the Wildcats. After Tucker shared his version on his social media, Booker re-shared it on his IG stories. While it may sound like Booker welcomed the color scheme, that’s not all. The story also included a caption in which the Suns guard tagged Tucker and added a head-holding emoji. This emoji often represented disappointment or frustration.

Notably, these kicks are not available to the public as they are a PE (Player’s Exclusives). While it is not clear why Booker disliked the colorway, there is a valid reason that could account for it. Before his NBA debut in 2015 D-Book also played a college season for the Kentucky Wildcats in 2014-15. The then-rising star had a decent effort, averaging 10 points per game, but was not particularly successful against the Texans.

In December 2014, the star had a night to forget. After playing 22 minutes for a win, Booker managed 0-5 FG and finished the game with zero points. Still, 11 years after the disappointing performance, Devin Booker has a chance to redeem himself. Will the Suns beat the Spurs? Let us know in the comments.

Before you leave, check out BG12’s Dual Threat Show, where Bulldogs’ Asia Avinger talks in depth about her experience with Kobe Bryant, her WNBA ROTY tips, and more in the video below.