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Growing up as the son of a professional basketball player, Phoenix Suns phenom Devin Booker was merely a 12-year-old who now was allowed to visit his father, Melvin, while he played overseas ball in Milan, Italy.
Booker Sr. played for Olympia Milano, alongside a promising young player by the name of Danilo Gallinari, known as “Gallo” which translates to “The Rooster” from his native Italian.
During the end of a practice, an 18-year-old Gallinari offered young Booker the chance of a little game of one-on-one, giving the future Suns star his first taste of going against a professional.
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Later that year, Gallinari was drafted with the sixth overall pick by the New York Knicks in the 2008 NBA Draft. A proud Booker told his friends about the shoes Gallo had once signed for him, a pair of Reebok sneakers that included his signature rooster logo on them.
“I remember on draft night, I was around all my friends and I was like ‘look, he signed these shoes for me,'” Booker said. “It was on his Reebok shoe, so it was the rooster edition, it had a little rooster logo on it. I remember like it was yesterday. He put ‘to my friend Devin' — He's like a big brother to me now. When he comes to Phoenix, we always bring that up. It was just a special moment for me.”
The friendship between Devin Booker and Danilo Gallinari was sparked in the neighborhood gyms of Milan, Italy @NBA2K pic.twitter.com/V7jx1Be9bk
— Bleacher Report (@BleacherReport) September 28, 2017
Booker will now see Gallinari on a new jersey for the second time, now as a member of the L.A. Clippers. The two will see each other soon during the regular season, when Booker and the Suns play the Clippers at Staples Center on Oct. 21 on NBATV.
