EverythingTop10 is proud to present, “The Top 10 Things You Didn’t Know About Devin
Booker!”
#10.
His father also played basketball.
Growing up as a kid, Booker had no problems falling in love with the game.
He did not have to look too far for role models, as his father Melvin Booker was a pretty decent
player at the time.
Melvin Booker averaged about 28 points as a senior in high school for Moss Point High.
His achievements saw him sign with the University of Missouri as a point guard where he made
the associated press second-team All-America selection and was the Big Eight Conference
Player of the Year in 1994.
In his senior season, he averaged 18.1 points, 4.5 assists, and two 3-pointers per game.
Unfortunately, he was not drafted after college, ending up in the American minor leagues with
teams like the Helford Hellcats and the Pittsburgh Piranhas.
He eventually made it to the NBA, played only 24 games and moved on to Europe, where he
had long stints in Europe and Turkey.
#9.
Booker had to move to Mississippi to get better at the game.
He grew up in Grand Rapids, Michigan and was a pretty good player by the time he got to
high school.
As a freshman, he was already playing for the Granville High School junior varsity and
varsity teams.
However, his father firmly believed that he had to move to Mississippi if he really wanted
a strong career in basketball.
His father tried to sell him and his mother on the idea for a while before his mother
finally agreed just before his sophomore season.
He joined Moss Point High, the school his father and grandfather had attended and even
though his transition was not smooth, it eventually turned out to be one of the best decisions
he ever made for his career and relationship with his father.
He finished his three-year stay at Moss Point High as their all-time leading scorer with
2,518 points.
#8.
He is extremely competitive.
This is perhaps expected of all athletes at the top level, but Booker is extremely competitive
in nature.
Around his Phoenix Suns teammates, he is known for turning up to practice early to practice
his meticulous shooting routines.
He often refuses to leave the gym until he has won the final game of knockout and often
complains about teammates if they happen to leave the premises before he has a chance
to challenge them to a game.
This is a trait he always had growing up.
According to his father, he once lost a one-on-one contest to a bigger boy when he was 12 years
old.
Devin, however, insisted that the boy stay for another game, and was only satisfied once
he finally beat him.
#7.
Booker loves traveling.
Visiting his father in Italy as a child introduced him to the thrill of traveling.
Since then, he has been an avid traveler and vows to visit at least one country every year.
In an interview with GQ, he mentioned China to have been his favorite destination, saying
he gets excited every time he gets a new stamp on his passport.
#6.
He has family roots in Mexico and Puerto Rico.
His father is African American and his mother is of Puerto Rican descent.
This means he has a strong enough connection to Puerto Rico that there has been chatter
of him possibly turning up for their national team.
He also has some Mexican roots, ones he is desperate to explore.
His maternal grandfather Jesus Gutierrez was from Mexico.
#5.
Booker once scored 70 points in a game.
Before the Boston Celtics game in March of 2017, Booker had never scored more than 40
points in a game.
It was, therefore, a pleasant surprise when, at just 20 years old, he became the youngest
ever player to score more than 60 points in a game when he hit the 70 point mark.
This record might yet be broken, given the wealth of talent that comes into the NBA every
year, but it put Booker in an elite club.
He became one of only 6 players to ever score 70 points in the NBA, the other five being
David Thompson, Elgin Baylor, David Robinson, Wilt Chamberlain, and Kobe Bryant.
Curiously, the 70 points meant he broke a Phoenix Suns scoring record, one set exactly
27 years ago on the same date when Tom Chambers scored 60 on the 24th of March in 1990.
He also broke records in 2019 when he became the youngest player at 22 to have consecutive
50-point games.
#4.
He is dating Instagram model Hannah Harrison.
The rumor mill has been active on Booker’s love life, with various sites claiming that
multiple women have been coming forward to claim him.
There is little definitive proof of this, but one seemingly credible story is the fact
that he is currently dating Instagram model Hannah Harrison.
The two follow each other on social media and have been commenting on each other’s
posts and pictures.
Harrison is also the co-owner of a beauty salon in Los Angeles.
#3.
Booker enjoys trash-talking his opponents.
He is known for his trash talk and bravado, but his confidence has also been on the rise
over his career.
Those who have followed his career know that he is also able to go head-to-head with the
best of them when it comes to trash talk.
He has gotten in trouble in the past for this too, with video emerging in 2019 of his trash
talking to then NBA free agent Joakim Noah about double-teaming during a pickup game.
Several stars came to his defense in the online debate that ensued, including Kevin Durant,
who tweeted in his support.
#2.
He became friends with fellow NBA stars D’Angelo Russell and Tyler Ulis in middle school.
The chances of elite players in the nation being teammates at any one time in their careers
or life before the NBA is relatively high.
Still, few meet as early as Booker, Ulis, and Russell, or strike any form of friendship.
For Booker and Ulis, their first stint as teammates was in middle school, where they
both went to the Nike 100 camp in St. Louis.
This is also where the pair met D’Angelo Russell, and in their childhood exuberance,
managed to sneak out of camp at night to buy slushies and get back to camp undetected.
#1.
Booker’s sister has Microdeletion Syndrome.
In Grand Rapids, Michigan, Booker lived with his older half-brother Davon Wade, and younger
half-sister Mya Powell.
They all share the same mother, and pretty much grew up together before Booker moved
to Mississippi to finish high school and play for his dad.
It was then that Mya’s symptoms began.
She has microdeletion syndrome, a genetic chromosomal disorder that leads to learning
problems, speech delays, and behavioral issues.
That’s all folks!
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