Devin Booker in Search of First NBA Championship
LEXINGTON, Ky. – This time a year ago, Devin Booker had never even sniffed the NBA Playoffs. Now, starting this week, the former Kentucky men’s basketball player will have the chance at an NBA championship.
Booker will lead the Phoenix Suns into the NBA Finals for the first time since 1993 and in search of the franchise’s first NBA title.
Game one of the best-of-seven-game series begins Tuesday at 9 p.m. ET on ABC from Phoenix Suns Arena. Every game will be telecast by ABC.
Booker, who was a key part of the 38-1 Final Four Kentucky team in 2014-15, has skyrocketed to stardom in the NBA, but until this season had not broken through with a postseason appearance.
Led by Booker’s finest season yet, the Suns not only clinched a playoff berth, they locked up the two seed in the difficult Western Conference and have backed up their regular-season success with convincing series wins over the defending NBA champion Los Angeles Lakers, the Denver Nuggets and the Los Angeles Clippers.
Now, the Suns will go head to head with the Milwaukee Bucks, who are led by two-time NBA MVP Giannis Antetokounmpo, Khris Middleton and Jrue Holiday.
It will mark the third straight season a former Kentucky men’s basketball player has appeared in the NBA Finals. Anthony Davis, Rajon Rondo and the Los Angeles Lakers defeated Bam Adebayo, Tyler Herro and the Miami Heat in last season’s championship series. It was Davis’ first title and Rondo’s second. Jodie Meeks was with the Toronto Raptors in their 2019 conquest.
Booker, a two-time NBA All-Star and one of the game’s best scorers since debuting in the 2015-16 season, averaged 25.6 points, 4.2 rebounds and 4.3 assists per game in the regular season. It is the fourth straight year he has averaged at least 24.0 points per game.
Booker was named the NBA Western Conference Player of the Month in February and won NBA Western Conference Player of the Week three times in 2020-21. He also recently received the NBA Cares Community Assist Award in May for his continued commitment to support youth and families throughout the greater Phoenix area.
In the playoffs, Booker is averaging 27.0 points, 6.5 rebounds and 4.8 assists per game, including a 40-point triple-double in game one of the Western Conference finals.
Booker is nearing 10,000 career points. Just 24 years old, his current point total is the seventh most ever by a player before turning 25.
Booker was the Southeastern Conference Sixth Man of the Year during UK’s magical 2014-15 season. He averaged 10.0 points, 2.0 rebounds and 1.1 assists per game, while also sinking 58 3-pointers. Booker won four straight SEC Freshman of the Week honors and earned a league-high five overall awards. He was drafted 13th overall by the Suns in 2015.
With Booker playing an instrumental role, the Wildcats went 38-1 in his lone season at UK, winning the first 38 games before falling in the Final Four. The 38 victories are tied for the most in NCAA history.
After the finals conclude, Booker will immediately join the U.S. National Team in Tokyo for the 2020 Olympics. Booker and Adebayo are looking to make it four straight gold medals for a Wildcat in the Summer Games.
When the 2020-21 NBA season began, a staggering 31 players were on NBA opening-day rosters (including two-way and inactive lists) played and finished their college basketball careers at Kentucky. Underscoring the fact that no other school in the country can match UK’s ability to develop players and put them in the NBA, UK’s 31 players were once again the most of any college basketball program, beating the next-closest school (Duke with 26) by five players.
Kentucky has enjoyed unprecedented success at putting players in the NBA under John Calipari. In the 11 previous seasons of the Calipari era, 41 players have been selected in the NBA Draft, more than any other school. Included in the recent run are 31 first-round picks, three No. 1 overall selections (Davis, Karl-Anthony Towns and John Wall) and 21 lottery selections.
Calipari’s players have entered the league NBA-ready. His players have garnered 23 All-Star selections, with Davis winning the game’s MVP honor in 2017. Derrick Rose was named NBA MVP in 2011. Six of his players have been tabbed All-NBA, three have been named NBA Rookie of the Year, and 15 players from Calipari’s first 11 teams at Kentucky have made the NBA All-Rookie teams.
Using figures compiled by basketball-reference.com and spotrac.com, Calipari-coached players only (which includes Rose but not Rajon Rondo) have amassed nearly $3 billion ($2.96) in career NBA contracts. In the 12 seasons Calipari has been the head coach at Kentucky, his players have totaled nearly $2.6 billion in NBA contracts. In just the 2020-21 season alone, former UK players are slated to make more than $295 million. Calipari-coached players only (which includes Rose but not Rajon Rondo) will make just about the same thing.
Calipari and Kentucky have had multiple players selected in the first round of the NBA Draft in 11 straight seasons, the only program since the draft went to two rounds in 1989 to accomplish such a feat. No other school or coach in the country has had a first-round pick in each of the last 11 seasons. Calipari is the only coach in the history of the sport to have four players drafted No. 1 overall (Rose – 2008, Wall – 2010, Davis – 2012, Towns – 2015).
For the latest on the Kentucky men’s basketball team, follow @KentuckyMBB on Twitter, Facebook, Instagram and TikTok, and on the web at UKathletics.com.
