According to ESPN’s Shams Charania, Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker will change his jersey number from No. 1 to No. 15 to honor his USA Basketball uniform and his father Melvin’s college number.
Booker wore No. 1 during his lone season at Kentucky and kept that number after being selected 13th overall by Phoenix in the 2015 draft.
While at Moss Point High School in Mississippi, Booker wore No. 2, a number the school retired in 2022. He also wore No. 2 with the Alabama Challenge on the Nike EYBL circuit. Melvin Booker also played at Moss Point and had his No. 15 retired by the school.
Devin Booker wore No. 15 while winning gold medals with Team USA at the Tokyo and Paris Olympics. Melvin Booker wore No. 15 for four seasons at Missouri and was a men’s consensus second-team All-America selection as a senior; he did not use No. 15 in the NBA, instead wearing Nos. 9, 14 and 5 during two seasons with three teams, according to ESPN.
Suns center Mark Williams wore No. 15 last season and is a restricted free agent; any return would require a number change. Booker will become the 16th player in franchise history to wear No. 15, a number most notably worn by Danny Manning when he won the NBA Sixth Man of the Year award in 1998.
Phoenix is coming off a season that ended in a first-round sweep by the Oklahoma City Thunder. Booker led the Suns in the 45-37 campaign, averaging 26.1 points and six assists per game.
