Devin Booker was the fourth of six players from Kentucky selected in the 2015 NBA Draft, but he's only three wins away from becoming that group's first champion.
The 24-year-old guard scored 27 points with six assists and three steals in the Phoenix Suns' convincing 118-105 win over the Milwaukee Bucks in Game 1 of the NBA Finals on Tuesday night. And Booker's ascension to superstardom hasn't been lost on the man who drafted him, six summers ago.
"When we were drafting at No. 13 and he was still on the board, it was a no-brainer. He was our guy," former Suns general manager and current Audacy NBA insider Ryan McDonough told The Zach Gelb Show on Wednesday. "We were keeping the pick, no trades. And it's worked out fantastically well for the franchise and Devin, individually... On draft night, I think anybody would be lying if they said they thought that he was going to be a superstar and in the top-five or 10 as far as youngest to hit different thousand-point thresholds.
"He's been in that elite group with Kobe Bryant, Kevin Durant, LeBron James, and some of the all-time greats. That's what he's done. So, I think anybody would be lying if they said they thought he was going to be that good, that quickly in his career... If you look at the history of the NBA, usually the leading scorer on the championship-winning team is a veteran player -- a guy in his late 20s or early 30s. If Devin Booker can do that in his mid-20s, I think that means the future is pretty bright for the Phoenix Suns."
Through 17 postseason games, Booker leads the Suns in average points (27.0) and minutes (40.5), and according to ESPN Stats & Info, he's the fifth player age 25 or younger in the last 15 years to lead his team in scoring on their way to the NBA Finals. Booker also became the fifth-youngest player in league history to reach 9,000 career points, back in April.
Booker's idol was the late Bryant, and McDonough believes that Booker has the skillset and confidence to accomplish the same career goals as Bryant.
"We played a game -- when I was GM of the team -- one of Kobe's last games. I think it was his last game in Phoenix. After the game, he and Booker hugged and exchanged jerseys," McDonough said. "Kobe gave Devin his shoes and signed them, and said, 'Be legendary, Kobe,' or something like that. It meant so much to him that Kobe did that, that when Kobe tragically passed away, Devin got that tattooed on his body. That's how much it meant to him.
"He's embraced that 'Be legendary' mantra and run with it. They're actually different people, different personalities. But some of the maniacal work ethic, that competitive spirit, that relentless determination to do anything to win that Kobe Bryant had, Devin Booker has it. And I think that's why, given his age and the age of most of the core of the Phoenix Suns, the team's ahead of schedule."
Game 2 of the best-of-seven series will take place Thursday night in Phoenix, with tipoff scheduled for 9 p.m. ET. The Suns currently have a 79-percent chance of winning their first NBA title, per FiveThirtyEight's projections.
The entire conversation between McDonough and Gelb can be accessed in the audio player above.
You can follow The Zach Gelb Show on Twitter @ZachGelb and Tom Hanslin @TomHanslin.