Sports Illustrated: Devin Booker will be Coast’s next Olympian

We're four years away from the 2020 Olympic Games, but Sports Illustrated already sees one Coast native with a shot at making a run for gold in Tokyo.

Ben Golliver of Sports Illustrated recently projected a 12-member USA men's basketball squad for 2020 and former Moss Point star Devin Booker made the list. Golliver described the 6-foot-6 guard for the Phoenix Suns as “A smooth-shooting teenager who projects nicely as a floor-spacer/playmaker at the two spot for Team USA.”

Booker, 19, helped his case for 2020 by landing a spot this summer on the USA Basketball Select Team, which scrimmaged with the main USA squad in preparation for the Olympics.

Booker, who played at Kentucky in 2014-15, was impressive in a short stint with Suns' summer league squad after averaging 13.8 points, 2.5 rebounds and 2.6 assists as a rookie during the 2015-16 season. Those numbers were good enough to put him on the NBA's All-Rookie Team. He was the Suns' first representative since Amare Stoudemire in 2003.

Booker’s ability to hit the 3-pointer makes him ideal for the international game.

“If he continues his ahead-of-the-curve developmental arc, the 2015 lottery pick has a chance to be a USAB mainstay,” Golliver wrote.

Booker was a three-time Sun Herald Player of the Year at Moss Point, finishing his three-year career as the school's all-time leading scorer with 2,518 points.