Devin Booker’s dad, Melvin, always knew his son liked basketball, but he didn’t know how fond he was of this sport, let alone how much attention he paid to the little details. With Devin ready to play in the NBA Finals, his father recalled how the shooting guard surprised him as a teenager.
Mr. Booker revealed that Devin was different from every kid his age, and he realized that when the now 24-year-old preferred to see a team winning rather than putting up a show. Per Melissa Rohlin of Fox Sports, Book was pissed off when the Detroit Pistons traded Chauncey Billups for Allen Iverson in 2008.
That was when his father saw that the kid actually understood the game and ignored big plays that had little impact on the scoreboard.
“He didn’t go for the flashy game. He went for the simple game. He understood the importance of what Chauncey would bring to a team. I knew then, for a kid to be 11 or 12 years old and understand that, I was like, this kid understands basketball.”
Book only cared about winning, and he’s finally doing so in the NBA. He even praised that Detroit Pistons team that won the 2004 NBA championship, claiming he learned a lot from them (5:38).
https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=1JWtDchNACA
“I fell in love with that Pistons team, they taught me the game of basketball,” Devin said.
After spending the first six years of his career struggling to make it to the playoffs, he’s a couple of hours away from playing in his first NBA Finals.
He’s come a long way, but Devin always knew his time was coming. The shooting guard proved this season that he can drop any number of points and take the W, something that didn’t happen before.
Suns and Bucks faced each other in the 2021 NBA Finals, with Book hoping to capture his first title in his first playoffs run.
