Devin Booker American Basketball Player From Grand Rapids

Early life

Devin Booker was born on 30 October 1996 in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he was raised by his mother, Veronica Gutierrez. His father, Melvin Booker, was a professional basketball player who spent much of his career abroad, and Devin visited him during summers. Melvin had been named the 1994 Big Eight Player of the Year while playing guard at Missouri. As a child, Devin's father taught him that understanding the game mattered as much as athletic gifts.

Booker began high school at Grandville High School in Michigan. After his father retired from playing, he moved to Mississippi and enrolled at Moss Point High School, where his father worked as an assistant coach. Over three seasons there he scored 2,518 points and became the school's all-time leading scorer. He was named Mississippi's Gatorade Player of the Year in 2013 and played in the 2014 McDonald's All-American Game. In October 2013 he announced that he would attend the University of Kentucky.

Career

Booker spent one season with the Kentucky Wildcats, in 2014-15. He appeared in 38 games, averaging 10.0 points in about 21 minutes a game, and was named the Southeastern Conference's Sixth Man of the Year. He was also chosen for the conference's all-freshman team and its second team. In April 2015 he declared for the NBA draft, and the Phoenix Suns picked him 13th overall that June.

He made his NBA debut in the Suns' opening game of the 2015-16 season, two days before his 19th birthday, and scored 14 points. That season he competed in the Three-Point Contest at All-Star Weekend, finishing third, and he finished fourth in Rookie of the Year voting and made the All-Rookie First Team. In March 2017, in a game against the Boston Celtics, he scored 70 points, a Suns franchise record, and at 20 he became the youngest player to reach either 60 or 70 points in a game. He averaged 22.1 points that season.

In July 2018 he signed a five-year maximum contract extension with Phoenix, and in March 2019 he scored 50 points in consecutive games, which made him the youngest player in league history to do so. He was selected as an All-Star for the first time in February 2020, as an injury replacement, and in the NBA's restart at the Orlando bubble that summer he averaged 31 points in the seeding games. The 2020-21 season brought Phoenix's first playoff berth since 2010 and a run to the NBA Finals, where the Suns lost to the Milwaukee Bucks in six games. Booker scored 601 points in that first postseason, the most for a player in a first playoff appearance, according to the record he broke from Rick Barry.

Phoenix won 64 games in 2021-22, the best record in the league, and Booker made the All-NBA First Team for the first time. In July 2022 he agreed to a four-year maximum extension. In January 2024 he scored 62 points against the Indiana Pacers, making him the ninth player in league history with more than one 60-point game. He was an All-Star for the fourth time that season and was named to the All-NBA Third Team. On 3 February 2025 he passed Walter Davis as the Suns' all-time leading scorer. A two-year extension followed in July 2025, and in February 2026 he was chosen as an All-Star for the fifth time.

For the United States, Booker played on the 2016 USA Select Team that trained against the Olympic squad. He won an Olympic gold medal in men's basketball at the Tokyo Games, held in 2021, and another at the 2024 Paris Games, where head coach Steve Kerr called him the team's "unsung MVP".

Recognition

Booker is a five-time NBA All-Star and has been named to an All-NBA team twice. He won the Three-Point Contest at the 2018 All-Star Weekend, setting a record of 28 points in the final round. He also holds two Olympic gold medals.

Personal life

Booker's maternal grandfather is from Mexico, and his mother is of Mexican descent. In 2020 he became a global ambassador for the Special Olympics. He runs a charitable foundation called the Starting Five, which gives grants to five nonprofit organizations. A native of Michigan, he follows Detroit sports teams.