NBA ALL-STAR MEDIA DAY

February 19, 2022

Devin Booker

Media Day Press Conference

Q. You went from struggling to get here to now being center stage. How does that feel?

DEVIN BOOKER: It feels good. It's a thing I definitely don't take for granted. Just being part of All-Star Weekend before I was even an All-Star, coming here for the 3-Point shootout and Rising Stars Challenge, it's always something I always enjoyed, just seeing the personalities around the guys. You have a lot of competitors that you never really get the chance to chop it up with off the court, and All-Star Weekend is a time when everybody is laid back having a good time.

Q. You and Karl Towns reunited, how has that been?

DEVIN BOOKER: It's great, man. Just listening to him, that's what I've been doing since we met, listening to him talk. No, it's fun, man. We're just having fun with it. Our lockers are right next to each other. I know when KD picked us both on the same team that the Kentucky memories started to flash back. It's fun to be out here with him.

Q. Is this in a way a celebration for what you guys have done as a team so far, the coaching staff --

DEVIN BOOKER: A hundred percent, man. I didn't get to go to the Celebrity and Rising Stars game last night, but seeing all the coaches out there, M.B. (Mark Bryant), K.Y. (Kevin Young), everybody, B-Randle (Brian Randle), I was at the crib with my cheers on and my happy face just celebrating. I know what we've been through as a team, and we're having fun doing that, so not everybody gets to bring their families out here to experience All-Star Weekend. It's unbelievable.

Q. The team success you guys have had up to this point, I don't know if pressure is the right word, but is there an expectation you put on yourselves to follow through from here through the rest of the postseason?

DEVIN BOOKER: Yeah, I think that expectation regardless of our record or not is going to be there after falling short last year, going through what we went through last year. I mean, I'd be lying to you if I said that wasn't our goal from the beginning of the season, but I think we do a good job at celebrating these moments and celebrating the streaks that we've been on, at the same time understanding what the mission is and what we're ultimately trying to do.

Q. You shared that photo of the recent schedule, and the Atlanta game, how much does that stick in your craw?

DEVIN BOOKER: Yeah.

Q. Is it a motivating thing or do you really think back to that loss?

DEVIN BOOKER: Yeah, that was a tough game. They kicked our ass. We have a few losses like that this year. I don't want to sound too cocky about it, but with so few losses you remember every one. I just thought that photo was cool, man, seeing it like that. I know we had won 18 out of 19, but seeing it with the green and the one red in there, I'm proud of it. I really am.

Q. You just touched on the obvious goal, but did you see 48-10? Did you see that before the season started?

DEVIN BOOKER: Yeah, that was never the goal. I think our thing as a team, especially adding a couple new pieces this year, was to work on the details. You've heard me say that a lot. I feel like that's what the regular season is for. Even in your wins and your losses, still trying to get better and still remaining healthy for when that time comes and when the postseason comes. We learned a lot through the season last year that benefited us later on in the Playoffs, Coach stressing little details that you think isn't a big deal at the time but can cost you a game in the Playoffs, and you're never going to want that.

Q. What do you think makes your team so special that you guys are the best team in the NBA?

DEVIN BOOKER: I'd say the chemistry. We can just start there, just the culture, the environment we're in, from coaching staff to training staff all the way down to the players. Everybody is locked in and everybody works extremely hard. Everybody is really good, to be completely honest. Like all the way down our team, and the guys that don't get a chance to get as many minutes, those guys are workers. They play hard and they push each other, and we communicate with each other.

It's just a whole chemistry and aura about the team that we're still trying to build on for later in the season, but so far, so good.

Q. It seems like you guys really love each other.

DEVIN BOOKER: Yeah, we do.

Q. Is that helping?

DEVIN BOOKER: Yeah, that's everything. We always say this, we spend more time with each other than we do our families. So being around a group that you don't like wouldn't be fun. That happens in the NBA. It's a very rare thing, and everybody that is on the team now will talk about their past experiences with teams, they'll be like, I've been on good teams, really good teams that didn't mess with each other, didn't have the chemistry that we have. It's just something about it, man, just every guy, like I say, from top to bottom really enjoys each other's company, and I think that's rare in the NBA.