Devin Booker

Devin Booker is part Puerto Rican from his mother’s side, and this qualifies him to play for the national Puerto Rican team if he desires to do so.

Devin once ran into controversy when he asked a fan’s girlfriend to sit on his lap. However, the matter did not do much damage to his career. Media reports claim that while in college, he had had many affairs.

Devin Booker was born on October 30, 1996, in Michigan, to an African–American father, Melvin Brooker, and his Mexican–American and Puerto Rican partner, Veronica Gutiérrez. His father was a brilliant young ‘NBA’ player when he met Veronica during on one of his tours for the ‘Continental Basketball Association.’

The couple did not marry but remained on good terms. After Devin’s birth, they decided that they would both take care of Devin, but he mostly stayed with his mother, as his father remained busy with his international basketball career.

Devin spent his early years in Grandville, Michigan, which was a suburb of Grand Rapids. Grandville was a town that was dominated by its white population. Devin visited his father during his summer holidays, in Moss Point, Mississippi, a place that had a significant black population. This proved to be a significant culture shock for young Devin, but he handled it quite well.

While Devin grew up, his father’s lifestyle influenced him greatly. He found a role model in his father and started practicing basketball in school. Devin was immensely attached to his father. Whenever Melvin traveled to other countries for his games, the father–son duo would communicate through e-mails.

Devin soon started attending ‘Grandville High School,’ and Melvin retired from professional basketball to stay closer to his son. Noticing his immense talent, Melvin tried hard to bring his son back to Mississippi permanently. Devin initially refused to go to Mississippi. However, Melvin managed to convince Devin’s mother, and Devin was soon enrolled at ‘Moss Point High School,’ where Melvin was hired as an assistant coach.

While in high school, Devin exhibited his remarkable sporting talent. In August 2011, Devin scored 17 points in the fifth game of the season, against ‘Gulfport High School.’ His score was higher than the rest of his team combined. He continued to play brilliantly, earning praises from a popular ‘Press-Register’ sportswriter, Creg Stephenson, who wrote that Devin’s average of 22.7 points during the season showed that he had developed to be one of the best players on the coast.

Devin’s performance got better over the years, and his father soon announced that he was contacted by a few ‘NBA’ teams that were interested to acquire Devin. College basketball was to play a crucial role in shaping Devin’s future as a star basketball player. During a ceremony in October 2013, at the ‘Moss Point High School,’ Devin announced that he had been chosen by the ‘University of Kentucky.’

On November 2, 2014, Devin scored 16 points, playing for his college team, against the ‘University of Pikeville.’ With that, he began a great college basketball career, which paved the way for his future career in the sport. In a November match against ‘Montana State,’ Devin scored a season-high 18 points. In the next game, Devin scored 19 points against ‘Texas–Arlington’ to set a new season-high score.

His completed his first season at the university with an average of 10 points and was sure about earning a respectable place in the ‘NBA’ draft which was just around the corner. In April 2015, Devin decided to let go of the remaining years of college and signed up for the ‘NBA’ draft.

In June 2015, he was selected by the ‘Phoenix Suns’ as the 13th overall pick. In his first seven ‘Summer League’ games, Devin averaged more than 15 points per game and proved his mettle. He made his professional ‘NBA’ debut against the ‘Dallas Mavericks’ two days before his 19th birthday. Hence, he became first player in the history of ‘NBA’ to debut at 18 years of age, with at least one year of college basketball experience.