PHOENIX \u2014 The Father\u2019s Day video posted Sunday stretched nearly nine minutes, and it was awesome. Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker walked with his dad in the Flagstaff High School gymnasium toward a rack where seven jerseys hung. All revealed Booker\u2019s new jersey number \u2014 15.<\/p>\n
Melvin Booker appeared touched. He had worn 15 during his college days at Missouri, where he was an All-American guard as a senior. \u201cI don\u2019t even know what to say, son,\u201d Melvin Booker said in the video<\/a>. Booker told him that he had always considered his dad the blueprint for basketball success.<\/p>\n \u201cA new chapter, to honor you, everything that you\u2019ve done for me, I\u2019m excited about it,\u201d Booker said, adding that he felt like he was about to start the second half of his career.<\/p>\n New York celebrates the 2026 NBA champion New York Knicks<\/p>\n Dr. J wore 6 for all 11 of his NBA years with the Philadelphia 76ers. Larry Bird will forever be 33 in Boston green. Reggie Miller and 31 are linked in Indiana, as are Dirk Nowitzki and 41 in Dallas and Tim Duncan and 21 in San Antonio. But times change.<\/p>\n Booker, 29, wore No. 1 in college at Kentucky and for his first 11 seasons with the Suns. At Mortgage Matchup Center in downtown Phoenix, his jersey was always the dominant fashion choice for fans young and old. It showed how much respect they have for Booker, who has expressed a desire to spend his entire career in the desert. A number change won\u2019t alter that affection.<\/p>\n But that wasn\u2019t the most interesting part of Sunday\u2019s announcement video. It was those first three words \u2014\u00a0a new chapter.<\/p>\n The Suns last season were a nice story, rebuilding and making the playoffs in coach Jordan Ott\u2019s first year. But the main storyline since their dismissal \u2014 a quick four games against the Oklahoma City Thunder \u2014 has focused on Booker and his disappointing postseason performance<\/a>. No one really knows how to explain it.<\/p>\n Just a few seasons earlier, Booker had been the best 2-guard in the league, a terror in the playoffs who had finished fourth in 2022 MVP voting. Since then, he has changed \u2014 still a star, but different. Always wanting to make the right play, Booker passed up shots in the playoffs, trying to set up teammates when the Suns needed his scoring.<\/p>\n 1 \ud83d\udd04 15 pic.twitter.com\/eDZUwvfrxT<\/a><\/p>\n \u2014 Phoenix Suns (@Suns) June 21, 2026<\/a><\/p>\n Stars who have changed numbers in the past, while not changing teams, have often done so to mark a transition. Twenty years ago, Kobe Bryant switched from 8 to 24 after his 10th season, one that ended with Bryant memorably taking only three second-half shots in a playoff elimination loss to Phoenix. The number change acknowledged Bryant\u2019s roots but also symbolized a new chapter of his career.<\/p>\n \u201cNo. 8 has been with me a while, obviously,\u201d Bryant said at the time. \u201cI just felt it was time to move on and do something different. When I came back from Italy (growing up) and I came to the States to play, the first number I selected was 24. It is kind of a new beginning for me, and that\u2019s what the second half of my career is all about.\u201d<\/p>\n (Wise-cracked Randy Hill of Foxsports.com: \u201cKobe wore 24 in high school, but skeptics believe he\u2019s making the change to put himself one up on Michael Jordan,\u201d who famously wore 23 for nearly all of his storied NBA career.)<\/p>\n Also in 2006, Suns star Amar\u2019e Stoudemire ditched No. 32 for No. 1. The explosive forward was coming off a season in which he played only three games because of his recovery from microfracture knee surgery. Stoudemire initially told The Arizona Republic the change was for \u201cspiritual reasons\u201d that he wanted to keep private. But it was clear the switch also represented a fresh start and return to the dominant force Stoudemire expected to be. (In 2024, the Suns hung Stoudemire\u2019s 32 in the rafters as part of his Ring of Honor induction.)<\/p>\n For his first four years with the Indiana Pacers, star Paul George wore 24 to honor Bryant. But in 2014, he petitioned the league about a switch to 13, partially because he liked the idea of a PG-13 nickname, something basketball personality Bill Simmons had first suggested<\/a>.<\/p>\n