Key Points
- Devin Booker is switching from No. 1 to No. 15, revealed in a Father's Day video.
- The number honors his father, Melvin Booker, who wore 15 as a Missouri star.
- Booker wore 15 winning Olympic gold with USA Basketball in 2020 and 2024.
- "I've been chasing 15 my whole career," Booker said in the video.
Devin Booker has worn No. 1 for his entire NBA career. On Father's Day, the Phoenix Suns released a video of the five-time All-Star telling his dad, Melvin, that the 1 is going away — he is switching to No. 15, the number his father wore, for the rest of his time in Phoenix.
A family number
"I've been chasing 15 my whole career," Booker says in the clip. "It's always been a family number. Obviously [my dad] wore it, and I looked at [him] as the blueprint for success." Melvin Booker was a star guard at Missouri — an All-America selection and the 1994 Big Eight Player of the Year — before a pro career that ran through the NBA and overseas. The handoff is the point: Booker framed the change less as a rebrand than as taking up the number that raised him.
Not a new number for him
Booker has already won in 15. He wore it for USA Basketball while taking home gold at both the 2020 and 2024 Olympics, so the digits are tied to the highest-stakes basketball of his career, not just to family. For a player who has spent his entire tenure as the face of the franchise — the same player whose signature Nike Book line has made the leap from on-court tool to retail release — a number change is the rare personal decision a star still gets to make publicly and on his own terms.
Source: NBA.com, Bleacher Report
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