And it seems as if things have gotten serious to the point where Devin Booker, 24, wanted his supermodel girlfriend Kendall Jenner, 25, to meet his grandma in Moss Point, Mississippi . For a mother to just let her son move with a father I didnt spend much time with She raised me most of my life. Gutierrez and her son said yes before his sophomore season. Devin Booker 2015-16 Panini Complete Rookie RC #296 Phoenix Suns Pre-Owned $20.00 Seller: matts_cardz (12,281) 100% Buy It Now +$4.95 shipping Sponsored 2015-16 Panini Gold Standard DEVIN BOOKER RC Jersey /149 BGS 9 w/ 10 AUTO RPA $349.95 Seller: meets2 (955) 99.6% or Best Offer +$3.95 shipping Authenticity Guarantee 13 watchers Sponsored The 19-year-old rookie acquitted himself well, reaching the final round before ultimately losing to Klay Thompson. With this, he became the third player in NBA history to achieve the feat. His scoring talent was probably more suited for todays game as his height at his position was held against him. At the end of the day, hes my thoughtful, caring, giving, lovable, funny, charming son., The NBA has only had four players come directly from Mexico Horacio Llamos, Eduardo Najera, Jorge Gutierrez and Gustavo Ayon. Moss Point wasnt suburban Grand Rapids where Devin grew up. But there was always a connection, a warmth, pleasantries, between the two. Devin Booker Personal Life. Let these kids know that, especially with the NBA today, its not one race. It's Hispanic Heritage Month. In March, Devin scored 34 points against Miami Heat to achieve yet another career milestone and his careers best performance to date. Booker and Phoenix are starting to build the kind of rare star-city relationship thats been most recently seen between Stephen Curry and the Bay Area. In a match against the New Orleans Pelicans in November 2016, Devin scored a career-high of 38 points, and a few days later, he bettered it by scoring 39 points against the Los Angeles Lakers. He became the first Phoenix Suns player in 28 years to touch the 38-point mark consecutively in two matches. He taught his son to shoot with the correct form. When I was drafted by Phoenix, I finally got to see the Hispanic culture around me for the first time in my life, Booker said. Everything we did was competitive, Devin Booker said. They played video games together. Melvin Booker worried that his son might want to go back to Michigan after a bad first day of high school in Mississippi. Every day has been a learning process for me. Melvin Booker averaged 5.2 points in 17 minutes in just 24 NBA games and believed that he didnt get a true shot. It increases the fandom, just because its someone you can relate to, said Jason Macias, a lifelong Suns fan who is a third-generation Mexican American. Melvin Booker of the Missouri Tigers dribbles the court during a game against the Kansas Jayhawks. So, just trying to inspire in that type of way and keep representing the heritage. Bookers former coach in Phoenix, Earl Watson, shares a similar background with his maternal grandparents hailing from Mexico. I meet a lot of people around the basketball business that talk about him like, People may not know who your father is, but he could hoop, Devin Booker said. Booker had never visited his grandfather's country until his job with the Phoenix Suns took him to Mexico City for two games in January 2017, where the then-unheralded second-year shooting. But it was also quite challenging to build a relationship with his son from afar despite a couple of visits overseas. When I dropped my son off at school, it was the first time, and he was 15 years old, Melvin Booker said. Seeing it, I would never let him shoot another way but the correct way regardless to whether he was shooting on a big basket or a small basket, big ball, small ball, whatever. If youre lucky, you might see one of the artists working on a piece when you visit. "She wanted to meet Book," Suns coach Monty Williams said. 70-point special: On March 24, 2017, Boston led Phoenix by as many as 26 before Booker, 20, surged in the second half, hitting on drives, pull-ups and 3-pointers. CartographerBlind. But once I got there, they embraced me, they took me in and I ended up getting more intact with that side of my family also, my dads side, it was a really important time., Looking back, Booker believes the diversity of his upbringing has made him more relatable to people and teammates of different backgrounds. Sometimes I would call and ask him, What did you do after practice? In October 2017, he scored 34 points against the Portland Trail Blazers to finish his 21st career game with 30+ points. Eventually, Melvin ended his career to return home to coach his high school team and focus on his son. Melvin Booker says he turned down an additional contract year with Italys Armani Jeans Milano and retired in 2008, primarily with his son in mind. Unfortunately, the NBA teams didnt love Melvin Booker during the 1994 NBA draft. Its a feeling like no other. Hed let them have the seats he got in his contract and then try to help them fall in love with Booker. Melvin Booker, his African-American father, played for the Continental Basketball Association Grand Rapids Mackers during the 1995-96 season. The 13-time All-Star, who was dealt to Phoenix on Feb. 9, has not played in a game since Jan. 8 when he was with the Nets. Most people have been doing that all their kids life. 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Now, with the Suns winning and Bookers background gaining prevalence, Ochoa has noticed an increased interest from Latinos around the cityand even from new fans in Mexico. He ended up meeting Devins mother, Veronica, when he was playing for the Grand Rapids Mackers in the 1995-1996 CBA season. Slowly but surely, though, Bookers awareness ofand appreciation forthe culture around him has become more evident. And it turned around. Its hard to put into words how proud I am, it really is. If you just acknowledge it from that perspective, then, then maybe it is OK to make it a bigger deal.. Booker's grandfather immigrated from Nogales, Mexico, to Michigan where the 2020 All-Star ultimately grew up. 18 0 comments Best Add a Comment More posts from r/nbacirclejerk 78K subscribers NumerousPainting354 2 days ago JOTY 2.4K 111 oldmatesatan 3 days ago Chet Holmgren injury update: no longer in a boot, it looks like his Lisfranc injury to his right foot is healing nicely. Imagine how I have to paint that picture over the airwaves so that those who listen to us who are Mexican, so that they can feel proud of a guy who shares their blood being an NBA star and who might be the most important player in the city since Larry Fitzgerald.. Marc J. Spears is the senior NBA writer for Andscape. After his first day of high school in Mississippi, Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker had his dad quite worried that he was going to pack his bags to go back to Michigan. Veronica is a Mexican-American and her father was born in Mexico. The lowrider car is one of the fixtures of Chicano culture, having originated in East Los Angeles in the 1940s, and on the night Phoenix went up 2-0, a mini caravan of those cars driven by Suns fans paraded down 2nd Street, honking and playing Spanish language music. The son of former basketball player Melvin Booker, [3] Devin is a three-time NBA All-Star and helped the Suns reach the NBA Finals 2021. Imagine the pride of having your team have a guy score 40 points in a playoff game, and he has Latino blood? Being able to touch those types of communities in this area makes all this that much better, said Booker. Melvin Booker continued to try to sell Devin and his mother on the idea that if his son was serious about becoming a basketball star, he should move with him to Mississippi and that he could keep in touch back home via text and FaceTime. With mom and dad by his side, Devin chose Kentucky in the blue chip recruiting class that also included current NBA players Karl-Anthony Towns, Trey Lyles and Tyler Ulis. Some of my favorite times as a child was my mom whipping up her original Mexican dishes that she learned from her father, or when we got the chance to visit my grandpa on the weekends in his city and having him cook for us, Booker said. That Hispanic culture is seen both in the stands and throughout the fan base, but what many might not know, is that the Suns also represent Hispanic heritage on the court. Maybe they didn't though, maybe they just smashed their sweaty, ugly, greasy, zit-covered faces all over their . Weve already felt the need to defend him for five or six years, because of the trajectory of his career and the way he was talked about early on, Vigil said. After splitting from Melvin, Veronica went on to have her third child, daughter Mya Powell, who reportedly has chromosome 22 deletion syndrome. Im around [Latino culture] every day, Booker said the day after winning Game 1 of the Finals. 9. RELATED: Devin Booker accepts spot on U.S. Olympic Men's Basketball Team. And many other local fans feel similarly. He always helped my mom out when she was in need, which was really important for me. One fan I encountered just before Game 2 said she researched Bookers heritage after seeing his face, doing a double take, and saying, Esa cara no se ve gringa (That face doesnt look gringa). Heres a look at 10 things to know about Phoenixs standout guard, his life and his NBA career. Kevin Durant shows no signs of rust in his 1st game with Phoenix, meshing quickly with his new teammates. That was the only reason I put Devin there. But now that Im a professional and Ive been around this lifestyle, I understand how hard it is. Copyright 2021 Scripps Media, Inc. All rights reserved. Im in the middle of it right now, Im not trying to get too excited but playing competitive basketball is something thats keeping me going right now., Gutierrez doesnt want Booker to feel any pressure to do any more than he already is. I always say Im fortunate enough to live around it, see it around the stands, and see it around the city. It was his mother, Veronica Gutierrez's hometown, and his father, Melvin Booker, who played for CBA's Grand Rapids Hoops. He met Veronica while mining a minor-league route to the league with the Grand Rapids Mackers of the Continental Basketball Association. Melvin is African-American and Veronica is Puerto-Rican and Mexican American. If you have a dream and you have the work ethic to match that dream, anything is possible.. Devin visited his father during his summer holidays, in Moss Point, Mississippi, a place that had a significant black population. In the same month, he played in his fifth 30-point game of the season, against the Minnesota Timberwolves. By the end of the season, Devin was part of another 30-point game and finished his rookie season with 1,048 points in total. Kobe wrote the same message on the KOBE XI PEs he gave Book in 2016 , (via @DevinBook, h/t Sneakercenter/Instagram) pic.twitter.com/D1jgnhcPXs, Peer approval: Bookers arrival as a star may have been a foregone conclusion. Gutierrez allowed Booker, then 12, to visit his father one spring break in Milan, where the son played one-on-one with a future pro in Danilo Gallinari and showed the potential of being a special player. From his seat inside a suite at Phoenix Suns Arena, Arturo Ochoa can barely hear himself think. Gerardo can rattle off facts about Booker like hes a walking Wikipedia page: Bookers mom is Mexican American, and his grandfather was born in Los Nogales, Mexico, a town near the Texas border. Booker is introduced last among the starters during Suns games; he gets the loudest cheers, and his jerseys are ubiquitous. The former Kentucky Wildcat didnt start a single game and averaged just 21.5 minutes in his lone collegiate season. Post player first:Being tall for his age, Booker actually played significant minutes in the post as a kid before ultimately becoming a shooting guard. I was trying to make up for the times I missed when I was gone.. So I came to pick him up after school and the first thing he said was, I dont know about this, dad., This was a social setting he needed to be around to know how blessed he had it because he was around a lot of kids with the typical urban story with no father in their lives Those were the things he needed to see and didnt see before.. The Suns wear Noches neBA Nike City Edition uniforms with Los Suns across the chest and Somos PHX near the size tag at the bottom of the jersey. He believed that his relationship with his son would grow, too, if he finally had him by his side. 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