USA Basketball Photo
One thing I really like about Devin Booker is that it does not seem like he has changed that much from the very first time I saw him play at Marshall County HoopFest as a high school senior.
He’s developed into a NBA superstar but has remained humble on and off the court.
He’s currently playing with USA Basketball in Paris in hopes of winning a gold medal Saturday after a narrow win over Serbia Thursday along with former UK players Anthony Davis and Bam Adebayo.
Booker had a team-high 18 points in a quarterfinal win over Brazil on 6-for-9 shooting but in typical Booker fashion downplayed what he did.
When you have shooters like Steph (Curry), and playmakers like LeBron (James), you’re going to find yourself open,” Booker said.
The Phoenix Suns All-Star guard has shot over 60 percent from 3 and almost 57 percent overall in the Olympics.
“That’s what our team is built on, depth, and any night we can have anybody get it going as far as the scoring,” Booker said about the team having a different leading scorer each game.
For Booker, that has been an easy role to accept even if he did win a gold medal in Tokyo in 2021 with Team USA.
“I was not always a star of a team. I was a sixth man in college, so I’ve always approached the game with whatever I have to do to get on the court and be effective and just understanding the talent that’s around and how the game is different over there and having that experience last Olympics,” Booker said about his one season at UK when the Cats went 38-1. “That has put me in the right mindset from day one.”
Booker said teammates have been just as willing to accept whatever roles coach Steve Kerr has had in mind in order to win a gold medal.
“That’s the beauty and the strength of our team is that it can be any one of these guys there,” Booker said. “They all have to carry their franchises individually when they go back to the NBA. We know they’re capable of carrying our team on any given day, but we don’t know who it’s going to be.
“As long as we play the right way and move the ball and somebody’s going to get hot. That’s how we feel.”
Serbia had USA down 17 points in the first half before the Americans rallied behind 36 points by Steph Curry to win 95-91. Booker had only six points but hit a crucial 3-pointer late in the game.
USA will play host France looking for its fourth straight Olympic gold medal.
2 Responses
Love his attitude. He has been a huge part of the success of the US team by knowing his role and playing it well.
UK was 1 Devon Booker & 1 Tyler Ulis away from going 40-0 because those 2 in the game the last 5 minutes vs Wisconsin instead of the pets & UK wins it.
Soooo happy those days of not letting the best players get the most minutes AND the crucial minutes when the game is on the line