It has been nearly a decade since Devin Booker was selected in the 2015 NBA Draft. The six-foot-six guard was taken 13th overall by the Phoenix Suns. He is getting ready to enter his 10th NBA season, all with Phoenix. At the moment, Booker is attempting to help Team USA win a gold medal in the Summer Olympics.
Booker has been one of the more productive scorers since entering the league. He has averaged 22.3 points per game for his career and at least 24.9 each of the last seven seasons. Booker has accumulated plenty of accolades as well. He is a four-time All-Star and two-time All-NBA member (first team in 2021-22). He was the best player on a Suns team that reached the NBA Finals in 2021.
Entering the 2015 NBA Draft, Booker expected a different team to draft him.
4-Time All-Star Believed Heat Would Draft Him In 2015
Devin Booker Thought He Would Be Drafted By The Heat
The 27-year-old Booker had a chat with Los Angeles Lakers point guard D’Angelo Russell on Russell’s YouTube channel. Russell was also in that 2015 NBA Draft as he was selected second overall. Booker revealed that he believed the Miami Heat were going to draft him.
“That’s where I was hoping” Booker said. “Miami was my best workout, and then I remember, I think Pat Riley came into he did an interview and he’s like ‘we’re looking for a player like Klay Thompson, we need to up our shooting.’ And I just shot 40 in college… I’m like ‘oh yeah’, I’m looking at spots right down there by the arena… Draft is crazy, your life changes like that, you have no control over it really.”
The Heat owned the 10th pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, three picks before Booker was selected. The season before that draft (2014-15) was the first season for Miami after LeBron James left to head back to the Cleveland Cavaliers. It was apparent then that they needed more outside shooting. In that season, the Heat finished 21st in made three-pointers and 24th in three-point percentage (out of 30 teams).
Who Did The Heat Select Instead Of Booker?
With that 10th overall pick in the 2015 NBA Draft, Miami selected forward Justise Winslow. While Winslow had seasons averaging double figures in scoring and showed playmaking abilities, he was nowhere near as impactful as Booker. Winslow often dealt with injuries and did not play in the NBA last season.
Winslow isn’t the only player that Booker has performed much better than that was drafted in front of him. Jahlil Okafor was selected third and has been out of the league since 2021. Mario Hezonja, the fifth overall pick in 2015, has been playing overseas the past few seasons. Willie Cauley-Stein was taken sixth, and he hasn’t played in the NBA the last two seasons. Emmanuel Mudiay, Stanley Johnson, and Frank Kaminsky were also drafted ahead of Booker without making much of a mark in the league.
It’s an interesting hypothetical to think of Devin Booker under head coach Erik Spoelstra with the Heat as a successor to Dwyane Wade at shooting guard.
