Breakfast, especially on Mondays, is when Devin Booker gets organized. Over a smoothie and a plate of pancakes, eggs and greens prepared by his private chef, the Phoenix Suns guard, 25, reads
an email from his agent/business partner containing everything he has to do for the week.
On the days he doesn’t have a basketball game, he takes meetings for his businesses, which include the sports drink company Coco5 he co-owns and several startups in which he’s invested. Game days, on the other hand, are scheduled with practices and routines from the minute Booker wakes up in the morning until after the game, when he usually does a heavier workout than he did leading up to it. “The reasoning behind that is to work while your body is already fatigued,” he says. “I like to train when my body is at that level.”
Devin Booker was born in Grand Rapids, Michigan, where he grew up with his mom, Veronica Gutierrez, and two siblings until high school, when he moved to Moss Point, Mississippi, to live with his dad, Melvin Booker. Melvin, a former NBA player who had been playing overseas, became a mentor to his son. Booker went to the University of Kentucky in 2014 and left after one season at age 18 after being drafted by the Suns in the first round.
Three years later, he became the youngest player in NBA history to score at least 60 points in a game. (He scored 70 against the Boston Celtics.) In 2018, he signed the largest deal in the Suns’ franchise history, worth $158 million over five years, and last year, he and teammate Chris Paul led the Suns to the NBA Finals, where they lost to the Milwaukee Bucks.
Off the court, Booker—who goes by DBook or simply Book—is also known for his romantic relationship with Kendall Jenner. Here, he takes WSJ. through a typical Monday game day.
Here are some things Devin Booker revealed to WSJ. Magazine…
On what time he wakes up and the first thing he does:
We really don’t do days of the week in the NBA. We do game days, we do practice days, and we do travel days. [On a] Monday game day, 8 a.m. wake-up is usually my time. The first thing I do is chug water. That’s something I’ve been doing for a long time. I feel like it gets me going. [Then] 8:30 a.m. breakfast. Devin Booker
On how much sleep he needs:
I try to get eight. But it varies. No less than five though. My problem is I play videogames very late at night, so that usually cuts into my sleep time. I’m usually asleep at 1, wake up at 8.
On his game-day routine:
We have a shootaround at 10 a.m., which is like game-day prep. We go in there and we go over the plays of whatever team we’re playing against that day and just get a few shots up, get the blood owing early in the morning. That’s usually an hour, from 10 to 11. Around 11:30, I get on my LightStim bed. It’s an infrared light bed. I sit on that for usually 40 minutes: 20 on my back, 20 on my face. The infrared sauna is next in my game-day routine, usually 15 minutes. During that time, I’m usually listening to reggae music. Then right at noon is what we call my pre-game snack. It’s usually something lighter, just try to get some fuel in the body before I go play. After my snack, it’s a one-hour nap. I’ll turn everything o in my room, light a candle and sit in the bed and try focusing on my breathing and separating myself from the madness that’s been going on that day.
It’s why I love game days, getting the hour right there. After that I get my coffee and start my shower, which is when I switch from reggae music, and now I’m getting ready for the game. The music’s a little more aggressive.
On his unique must-haves when traveling for games:
I use a Barefoot Dreams blanket. I don’t want to sound like a little kid, but I have a consistent blanket I bring with me on the road. I travel with sage and a Diptyque candle everywhere I go, so I’m kind of getting my home vibe on the road. And I bring a gaming laptop; it’s easy access to connect with my friends.
On what makes him feel productive:
A clean space, when my room is locked in. That’s my therapy, too, sitting in my closet and organizing and going through drawers and making sure I know where everything is.
How are you feeling about a Suns championship this year?
It’s time. I think everybody on our team has the same goal and is on the same mission, especially after a deep playoff run last year and a heartbreak loss in the finals. We’re not trying to have that feeling again. Devin Booker
On the one piece of advice that’s guided him:
“Be legendary,” the advice that Kobe had left me with in the short time I got to spend with him in our last game playing against each other. He left it with a mark on my shoe and he wrote it out, Be legendary. And not only did he write it on the shoe and sign it for me, but just talking me through it and talking through the steps that it’s going to take to get there. Kobe’s always been an inspiration, so hearing it in his voice and seeing it in his handwriting on the shoes keeps me motivated.
On getting that personal message permanently tattooed:
My first tattoo. Any glimpse I can see of it, any photo where I look and I’m shooting the ball and I see it, it’s a perfect reminder for me.
On dating Kendall Jenner, and whether it’s hard having the spotlight on both his professional and private life:
I wouldn’t say hard. Honestly, I’m enjoying life to the fullest, and that came off my tongue so easily because it wasn’t always this way, but I feel like I’m in a good place right now. I love my family, I love the people around me, and I love the impact that I get to have on this world, the younger generation under me and the kids who look up to me. Devin Booker
Read the full article here.
Photo: Lyndon French for WSJ. Magazine
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