Suns star, Michigan native Devin Booker on Lions’ run: ‘It’s history right before us’
Jan 21, 2024, 10:03 PM
Former NFL player Calvin Johnson (L) and NBA player Devin Booker meet before the game between the Carolina Panthers and the Detroit Lions at Ford Field on October 08, 2023 in Detroit, Michigan. (Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
(Photo by Nic Antaya/Getty Images)
Phoenix Suns star Devin Booker was born in Grand Rapids, Mich., and at no point in his life had the local NFL team won a playoff game.
The Detroit Lions snapped their 32-year drought last week with a win over the Los Angeles Rams, and on Sunday they beat the Tampa Bay Buccaneers to move within one game of reaching their first Super Bowl.
Booker was asked after Phoenix’s win over the Indiana Pacers on Sunday if he has perspective on what this moment means as a Michigan native.
“No, because I’ve never seen it,” Booker said. “This one’s for the whole city, for the whole state. There have been a lot of Sundays of family gatherings that all turned out the same. So now for them to be in the position they are, I don’t think they’ve done it since ’91 and I wasn’t alive then, it’s history right before us.”
The Lions will be the underdogs to reach the Super Bowl, though, as they head to the top-seeded San Francisco 49ers. Do the Suns have any 49ers fans?
“I’m sure they’re somewhere, we’ll see, they’ll come out,” Booker said.
The Suns don’t have any Bay Area natives on the roster, so maybe there won’t be a Mikal Bridges-Cam Johnson-like showdown when the Rams and Cincinnati Bengals made the Super Bowl a couple years ago. But there’s a week for trash talk if someone comes out of the woodwork with a Brock Purdy or Christian McCaffrey jersey on.
