Devin Booker Is Changing His Suns Jersey to No. 15 to Honor His Father. Here’s the Story Behind It.
Devin Booker is swapping out the No. 1 he has worn his entire NBA career for No. 15. The reason is one of the sweetest stories you will hear all summer.
Shams Charania of ESPN reported on Tuesday that the Phoenix Suns star will wear No. 15 in 2026-27 to honor his father, Melvin Booker. Melvin wore 15 during his college days at Missouri, where he earned consensus second-team All-America honors as a senior in 1994.
Booker has worn No. 15 before. He picked it up with Team USA during both the Tokyo and Paris Olympics, winning gold both times. Now he is bringing it home to Phoenix on a permanent basis.
For Devin, this is about more than a number on a jersey. Melvin had a brief NBA stint with the Golden State Warriors before carving out a long pro career in Europe, where he became something of a legend in France and Russia. Devin tagged along as a kid, soaking up the game from the man who taught it to him.
If you have ever heard Booker talk about his dad, you know how much weight this carries. He has credited Melvin in nearly every big moment of his career, from his rise as a teenager in Kentucky to his 2017 70-point game to his Finals run in 2021.
This is also classic Booker. He does not chase trends. He does not need to brand his name into a number for the marketing department. He is changing it because it means something. That is rarer than people realize in today’s NBA.
There is a Kobe Bryant parallel worth noting. Kobe famously switched from No. 8 to No. 24 because he wanted to be a different player in the second half of his career. Booker is one of the few stars who has openly embraced the Mamba mentality, and his decision to change numbers heading into his 11th season feels like its own chapter break.
The Suns enter 2026-27 with a lot of noise around them. Phoenix has reshaped its roster around Booker after the Kevin Durant era ended, and the pressure is squarely on him to drag this team back into contention. Wearing his father’s number is a fitting way to start that next chapter.
It will take some getting used to seeing him in 15 instead of 1. But the meaning behind it is what will stick. Booker has always carried himself with quiet seriousness about the people who got him here. This jersey change just makes it impossible to miss.
The Suns are expected to release a hype video around the change in the coming weeks. Expect Melvin to be front and center.
Devin Booker switching his number does not solve Phoenix’s defensive issues or fix the team’s cap problems. But for one quiet day in the middle of June, it is the best basketball story going. Sometimes the league needs the human stuff to cut through the noise of trade rumors and contract math.
A longtime sports reporter, Carlos Garcia has written about some of the biggest and most notable athletic events of the last 5 years. He has been credentialed to cover MLS, NBA and MLB games all over the United States. His work has been published on Fox Sports, Bleacher Report, AOL and the Washington Post.
