Basketball

How Devin Booker has morphed into an NBA superstar


  • In reality, it took a smaller league landscape with 22 teams resuming the season in Orlando for a national audience to learn just how amazing Booker is. All eyes on Walt Disney World. The perfect platform for this Sun to shine.
  • Those in Phoenix, and others who follow the game like a religion, knew full well just how special this still-23-year-old Michigan native is.
  • In his first season as the Suns’ head coach, the respected Monty Williams saw something special from Booker even before the campaign started.

“He reminds me so much of Brandon Roy,” Williams said a year ago July, via NBA.com. “But I think Devin can eclipse that because he’s durable. He’s big and strong. Even though Brandon was [big and strong], Brandon wasn’t healthy.”

For those of you who have not followed the NBA over the years, Brandon Roy’s may not ring a bell. A top-six pick back in 2006, the Washington product earned All-Star appearances in three of his first four seasons with the Portland Trail Blazers.

Roy was seen as the next great back-court talent in the Association before knee injuries derailed his career. The comparison of Booker to Roy is nothing but a testament to how Williams feels about his new guard.

Devin Booker, coming up magic in Orlando 

One game after hitting that winning shot against the Clippers, Booker put up 29 points in a victory over the Indiana Pacers. Immediately after that game, he was seen wearing a Los Angeles Lakers shirt as a way to pay homage to childhood hero Kobe Bryant.

That’s where this story almost comes full circle.

“The biggest thing for me was earning his respect,” Booker said of Bryant following Kobe’s tragic passing in January, via AZ Central. “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.”

Given what we’ve been through since, it might seem like eons ago when news broke on Jan. 26 that Bryant tragically passed away at the age of 41 in a Southern California helicopter accident.

The NBA world mourned, as did Booker and other young stars who grew up with Bryant acting the part of my generation’s Michael Jordan. Less than two weeks until Kobe would have turned 42, Booker is out here doing his best Bryant impersonation. He’s doing so while paying homage to a man who helped jump start his interest in basketball.

When I say Booker is looking every bit the part of Mr. Bryant, I am not exaggerating.

From a pure statistical standpoint, Booker has been on absolute fire en route to leading his Suns into shocking playoff contention. He’s averaging 31.0 points, 4.6 rebounds and 6.1 assists per game while shooting 50% from the field in Orlando. That included a 35-point outing in a must-win over the Philadelphia 76ers on Tuesday.





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