Devin Booker Jersey Number Change: Suns Star Swapping No. 1 for No. 15 to Honor His Father

Phoenix Suns guard Devin Booker is set to wear a new number next season, and the reason behind it has nothing to do with style and everything to do with family.

According to ESPN insider Shams Charania, Booker is moving on from the No. 1 jersey he's worn for his entire NBA career and switching to No. 15 starting in the 2026-27 season. Charania reported the move is honoring his USA Basketball uniform and the college number of his father, Melvin, tying together two of the most meaningful threads in Booker's basketball life.

It's a quiet but emotional story breaking out at a moment when NBA fans are starved for offseason news, and it's quickly becoming one of the most talked-about Suns headlines of the summer.

Quick Facts

• Devin Booker is switching from No. 1 to No. 15 for the 2026-27 NBA season, per ESPN's Shams Charania.
• No. 15 was worn by his father, Melvin Booker, during his All-American career at the University of Missouri.
• Devin also wore No. 15 while winning Olympic gold with Team USA at the Tokyo 2020 and Paris 2024 Games.
• He's worn No. 1 since being drafted 13th overall by Phoenix in 2015.
• Suns center Mark Williams wore No. 15 last season and is a restricted free agent, which could complicate the timing.
• Booker will become the 16th player in franchise history to wear No. 15 for Phoenix.

Why Booker Is Leaving No. 1 Behind

Booker has worn No. 1 for essentially his entire competitive basketball life outside of high school. He sported it during his lone college season at Kentucky in 2014-15, where he won SEC Sixth Man of the Year while coming off the bench for a 38-1 Wildcats team that also featured future NBA All-Star Karl-Anthony Towns. When Phoenix selected him 13th overall in the 2015 NBA Draft, the number came with him, and it stuck for the next eleven seasons.

Before all that, Booker actually wore No. 2 at Moss Point High School in Mississippi, a number the school retired in his honor in 2022, and he wore the same digit while playing AAU ball for the Alabama Challenge on the Nike EYBL circuit. No. 1 was something Booker picked up specifically for his college and pro career, not a number tied to his roots the way No. 15 is.

Now, after becoming the Phoenix Suns' all-time leading scorer and turning into one of the most respected players in the league, Booker is choosing to make his jersey reflect where he came from rather than the number he simply happened to land on a decade ago.

A Number That Runs in the Family

The heart of this story is Melvin Booker, Devin's father and one of the most beloved players in Missouri Tigers basketball history. A point guard out of Moss Point, Mississippi, Melvin went largely unrecruited by major programs despite averaging 28 points per game as a senior in high school. Missouri's coaching staff discovered him almost by accident while scouting other prospects, and he turned that opportunity into a legendary college career.

Wearing No. 15 for four seasons at Missouri, Melvin Booker became the 1994 Big Eight Conference Player of the Year, a consensus first-team All-American, and the engine behind a Tigers team that ran through conference play undefeated at 14-0 and advanced to the Elite Eight. He still ranks among Missouri's all-time leaders in scoring, three-pointers, and assists, and he was inducted into the school's athletics Hall of Fame in 1999.

Despite that résumé, Melvin went undrafted in 1994. He carved out a brief NBA career anyway, appearing in 32 games combined for the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, and Golden State Warriors across two seasons, while opting for numbers 9, 14, and 5 rather than 15 during that stretch. The bulk of his pro career was spent overseas in Europe and Asia before he retired in 2008.

That retirement is what changed Devin Booker's life. Melvin moved his then-11-year-old son from Grand Rapids, Michigan, to his own hometown of Moss Point, Mississippi, and personally helped train him into a McDonald's All-American. Without that decision, there's a good chance the basketball world never gets the version of Devin Booker we know today. Putting his father's college number on his back is Booker's way of making that debt visible to everyone watching.

The Same Number That Won Two Olympic Gold Medals

There's a second layer to this change, too. Booker has worn No. 15 every time he's suited up for Team USA, including during the program's gold medal runs at the Tokyo Olympics in 2021 and the Paris Games in 2024. He's become one of USA Basketball's most trusted role players in those settings, willingly accepting a smaller offensive role and locking in defensively, work that earned him praise from head coach Steve Kerr as an "unsung MVP" of the Paris squad.

For Booker, No. 15 already carries the memory of representing his country at the highest level. Bringing that number to Phoenix essentially merges his international identity with his NBA one, rather than keeping them separate the way they've been for years.

One Lingering Question: What Happens to Mark Williams?

The timing of this move isn't entirely clean. Suns center Mark Williams wore No. 15 for Phoenix last season, and he's currently a restricted free agent this offseason. If the Suns re-sign him, Williams would need to pick a new number himself, since Booker's standing in the organization makes it a near-certainty that the franchise's leading scorer gets first claim. It's a minor logistical wrinkle, but one that's already generating its own side conversation among Suns fans waiting to see how free agency shakes out.

Joining Suns Franchise History

Once the switch is official, Booker will become the 16th player in Phoenix Suns history to wear No. 15. The most notable previous holder is Danny Manning, who won the NBA's Sixth Man of the Year award in 1998 while wearing the number for Phoenix. It's a respectable but relatively quiet number in franchise lore, meaning Booker has a real chance to redefine what it represents for Suns fans going forward.

Why Now Makes Sense

Context matters here, and the Suns' recent history adds some weight to the timing. Phoenix finished last season at 45-37, good for eighth in the Western Conference, and needed the play-in tournament just to reach the playoffs before getting swept in the first round by the Oklahoma City Thunder. That disappointing finish came after the Suns traded longtime star Kevin Durant to the Houston Rockets in a deal that brought back forward Dillon Brooks, marking a clear changing of the guard for the roster around Booker.

Through it all, Booker kept performing at an elite level, averaging 26.1 points, six assists, and 3.9 rebounds per game while shooting 45.6% from the field. He earned his fifth career All-Star selection for the 2026 game, and teammate Grayson Allen described him as the engine to our team, offensively during the stretch run. Now entering his 12th NBA season, Booker is firmly established as the unquestioned face of the Suns franchise and its all-time leading scorer.

Jersey number changes at this stage of a star's career tend to symbolize something larger. NBA fans will remember Kobe Bryant's switch from No. 8 to No. 24 partway through his Lakers tenure as a marker of a new chapter. Booker's situation is different in substance, since this is about family and country rather than personal reinvention, but the underlying idea is similar: a fresh number can serve as a visible signal that a new era is beginning, both for the player and the team built around him.

What Fans Should Know Before the Season Starts

A few things are worth keeping in mind heading into the 2026-27 season. First, this is currently a media report, not yet a formal announcement from the Suns or Booker himself, though Charania's NBA sourcing is considered among the most reliable in the business. Second, fans hoping to buy new No. 15 Booker gear will likely need to wait for the Suns and Nike to formally roll out updated jerseys, which typically happens closer to training camp. And third, the Mark Williams situation is worth monitoring, since his free agency outcome could become a small but notable subplot tied to this larger story.

For now, the reaction across Suns social media has been overwhelmingly positive, with fans calling it one of the more thoughtful and personal jersey stories in recent NBA memory. It's not just new branding for Booker. It's a number that ties his father's college legacy, his own Olympic success, and the next chapter of his Phoenix career into one digit on the back of his jersey.

Frequently Asked Questions

When will Devin Booker start wearing No. 15? The change is expected to take effect for the 2026-27 NBA season, Booker's 12th in the league.

Why is Devin Booker changing his number from 1 to 15? Per ESPN's Shams Charania, the switch honors the No. 15 his father, Melvin Booker, wore during his All-American career at the University of Missouri, as well as the same number Devin wore while winning Olympic gold with Team USA.

Did Melvin Booker play in the NBA? Yes, briefly. He appeared in 32 NBA games for the Houston Rockets, Denver Nuggets, and Golden State Warriors in the mid-1990s before spending the rest of his pro career overseas.

Who wore No. 15 for the Suns last season? Center Mark Williams wore No. 15 for Phoenix in 2025-26. He's a restricted free agent this offseason, and his number would need to change if he re-signs with the team.

Has Devin Booker or the Suns officially confirmed the number change? As of this report, the change comes from ESPN's Shams Charania citing sources, not a formal team or player announcement. Charania is widely regarded as one of the most reliable NBA reporters, so the report is being treated as highly credible across the league.