Hey, Phoenix, do you know how lucky we are to have Devin Booker? The unsung hero of the U.S. team is proving why he deserves all the praise.
NBA All-Star Devin Booker proves indispensable for Team USA
Phoenix Suns All-Star Devin Booker plays multiple roles for Team USA and is looking to win his second consecutive Olympic gold medal in Paris this summer.
He is not the brightest star in the sky.
He glows warm. He doesn’t blaze like the supernova, LeBron James.
But he is our star and our ambassador at the 2024 Olympic Games, and these Games have become a showcase for his special skills – his quiet qualities of patience, selflessness and a wisdom that goes far beyond his years.
In a U.S. basketball world filled with superstars, Devin Booker shines brightly and consistently, producing such consistently high performance in the high-pressure Olympics that he sticks around even when flashier stars are benched.
Devin Booker is not the best player at the Olympics
Booker is neither the most talented nor the most athletic player on this U.S. men’s team, but he has developed into perhaps their most important role player, always doing what is needed: covering, distributing the ball, setting the pace and providing the necessary defense.
In Thursday’s stunning comeback against a great Serbian team, Booker was “the unsung hero,” wrote CBS sports columnist Zachary Pereles. Serbia had led the entire game, but in the fourth quarter, Booker shut down Serbia’s point guard and the Serbian offense.
“The Serbian attack stalled and had to settle for several contested late-game jumpers,” Pereles wrote. “Booker did the dirty work and made the most of the limited offensive opportunities – exactly what the team needed.”
“Booker has quietly become one of the most important players for the United States,” wrote Jeff Zillgitt of USA Today.
But Team USA trusts him to get the job done
One way to understand this is through statistics.
In the plus-minus (PM) statistic, which measures how well a team performs with a certain player on the court, Booker has the highest PM of his team after 10 games at +112. Behind him are Steph Curry (+82) and LeBron James (+77).
To better understand this, however, you have to look at the coaching staff of the U.S. men’s team. They are a who’s who of the greatest basketball minds in the world – Steve Kerr (Golden State Warriors), Tyronn Lue (Los Angeles Clippers), Erik Spoelstra (Miami Heat) and Mark Few (Gonzaga University).
These are the men who look at a U.S. roster full of future Hall of Famers and decide that Devin Booker belongs in every game instead of half a dozen superstars sitting on the bench.
Forget the starters, Pereles wrote. “You can find out who the team trusts by looking at the final lineup. Fittingly, Booker was called up alongside Curry, James, (Kevin) Durant and (Joel) Embiid when the U.S. team was in dire straits against Serbia on Thursday, and he delivered.”
Phoenix Suns are lucky to have Booker
It’s time to take a step back and realize how lucky we are that the Phoenix Suns used their first-round pick in 2015 to recruit a teenager named Devin Armani Booker.
It turns out that the 18-year-old, who came to this city after playing as a sixth man at the star-studded University of Kentucky, was a godsend for Arizona.
He looked at a franchise that had decayed since the glory days of Charles Barkley and Kevin Johnson and saw what everyone else saw – cracked mud and dry bones.
But he saw something else. Potential. At 18, for heaven’s sake, he had a vision to turn our basketball desert back into an oasis – back into one of the greatest franchises and cities in the NBA.
To do this, he would have to decide on the fallow land early on and patiently begin the construction.
Booker’s talent was evident early on
He was only 20 when he scored his first 30-point game – the third youngest player to do so after LeBron James and Kevin Durant.
He was 22 and still baby-faced when he walked into the Boston Garden and scored 70 points on the court and against the Celtics. At the end of the game, the Boston crowd cheered him on. The hapless Suns still lost by 10 points.
His teammates took a photo with him after the game and said “Cheese!” For Jae Crowder of the Celtics, this was too much, and he mockingly said, “I’ve never seen so many happy guys after a loss.”
Booker immediately countered: “You can’t guard me.”
The NBA stars of the time saw him as a young boy who hung out with men, but he had a manly game and didn’t back down from anyone.
The best players on the other teams noticed. Devin Booker talked to him and he talked back to him. Maybe he’ll even start trash talking himself.
No wonder Durant and Paul came to Phoenix
Among the first to see this were the Golden State Warriors, then the best team in the NBA.
“I love Devin Booker,” said Kevin Durant, then a Warrior. “He loves the game and he’s like a dog. He talks (expletive). He wears you down. He gets on your nerves. You better watch out for that kid. … He’s next, I’m telling you.”
As luck would have it, Crowder and Durant eventually headed to the desert to join Booker and his team, the Phoenix Suns.
That was Booker’s vision. Phoenix was to become the city that attracted stars instead of repelling them.
That required humility, a willingness to step back as the sole face of the franchise and let others take the spotlight. When future Hall of Fame guard Chris Paul decided he also wanted to play with Booker in Phoenix, he came along and suddenly made an impression.
Paul was like a second coach on the court, taking the young players to a higher level. And when the Suns made it to the NBA Finals, this city and the rest of the NBA got a little drunk and started to think this was Chris Paul’s team.
But that was never the case.
Booker learned to work hard in the South
Devin Booker was the foundation, and he was busy refining his game, learning to score more with fewer shots and defend at an elite level.
He was very disciplined and patient because he had acquired these skills in his childhood.
Booker had grown up in suburban Detroit and rural Mississippi under the tutelage of his father, Melvin Booker, who had briefly played in the NBA. In a high school gym in Moss Point, Mississippi, nicknamed “The Dungeon,” his father taught the young man the virtues of hard work.
The roof leaked when it rained, and young Devin set up trash cans to catch the water. There was no air conditioning, so it was a hot house where instant gratification was put on hold and skills were honed over months and years of hustle and sweat.
When he finally came to Phoenix, Booker brought with him not only basketball talent, but also the patience needed to bring something great to this city.
They’re called Los Suns for a reason, right?
His father is African-American. His mother is Latino, and his mother’s Puerto Rican and Mexican roots made him the ideal person for a city that is becoming increasingly multicultural, Mexican-American and The Suns by year.
Booker hadn’t yet fully lived up to his mother’s legacy, and signaled early on that Phoenix would be a great place to change that. Oh, that sent Latinos in Arizona into raptures.
“I would definitely like to take him home and introduce him to Mexican food,” Elena Beltran told ABC 15. “My mom’s rice, her sopa, cheese and tortillas, that’s all you need.”
The men were also blown away. “It’s called Los Suns for a reason, is it? Los Suns,” said Richard Valdes.
There’s a great old clip online of a Latino girl inviting young Devin Booker to her house to surprise her brother, a huge Suns fan, on his birthday.
If NBA stars are considered aloof and distant, Booker didn’t know it. He swung his chrome car into the driveway, walked into the house and into the boy’s bedroom, and saw his jaw drop. Smiles and birthday cake everywhere.
Phoenix is Devin Booker’s city
To see how Booker loves to mingle with fans, check out the clip of the girl in the store who collects Devin Booker trading cards. Someone with connections calls Booker on an iPhone and surprises her with his smiling face and friendly voice. The young girl bursts into tears of joy.
Booker was also involved in many charitable activities for the city.
“Devin loves Phoenix,” his old coach Monty Williams told Arizona Sports. “You just have to look at how much money he’s donated to the city and the community. That’s not something you do when you’re thinking about leaving your home and going somewhere else.”
“He wants to make it here. I think he’ll be one of the few to stay with a team for 15 years because he’s so invested in the program and the city.”
The proof of that came in 2022, when he dribbled into the corner with seconds left and fired a turn-around jumper – a spectacular shot that somehow ended up in the net.
“Oh, my goodness,” shouted the announcer, “how difficult this three is!”
But the announcer hadn’t seen everything.
When the replay came back with a close-up of Booker sitting on the ground, one of the fathers in the crowd could be seen leaning forward with his little boy. The baby had his hand outstretched.
Booker punched the little hand.
And his mission was accomplished.
Phoenix was his city. Arizona was his state.
And it seemed as eternal as one of our purple sunsets.
Phil Boas is an editorial page columnist for the Arizona Republic. You can email him at [email protected].
