At her first recital, she literally upstaged her ensemble and put on her own show. She couldn’t walk until she was 3 years old, but Gracie enrolled her in dance by the time she was 4. And Devin never treated her any differently either.” Down syndrome is what she has, but it isn’t what defines her. “We have always strived to treat Jenna like the normal person she is. “We just trusted him right away,” Gracie says. Eventually, he answered her cheers with an introduction. Devin’s early warmup routine involves making five three-pointers from various spots around the arc, ending right in front of where Jenna sits with her stepdad and mom, Ray and Gracie Colvin.

home games, they were settled into their seats by 5, among the first dozen fans in attendance. They had been season-ticket holders since 2010, and they took advantage of the early access to the arena it afforded them. It didn’t take more than six weeks into the season for Devin to introduce himself to the family. There’s no one in the world who brings more joy to me or to our family.”ĭevin has never talked to Jenna’s family about Mya, but they suspected right away that he had a family member or a close friend with special needs. by the beaming face and excited voice of his little sister. Which meant that most mornings, Devin was awoken before 5 a.m. Mya didn’t quite grasp the time change and would insist to Veronica almost every morning that they FaceTime her brothers. 13 pick in the 2015 draft, he and Davon moved to Arizona. MORE NBA: Mock Draft 4.0: Who should Sixers take with first pick?Īfter the Suns drafted Devin with the No.“She’s always saying, ‘I’m your little sister, shouldn’t you let me win?’ Devin says and smiles. No one likes to lose, and no one takes it easy on Mya. When he and Davon return home, the kids compete in everything from board games to basketball to Wii Tennis. One of the few regrets of Devin’s blooming basketball career is that Mya hasn’t been able to watch him play consistently. that they played basketball, she told everyone in the class that I was better than every single one of them,” Devin says now. “In middle school, on the first day of P.E. From afar, she has become a big basketball fan. The boys say that she now has the emotional intelligence of a 7-year-old. Mya, who is 14 now, has Microdeletion syndrome, a genetic chromosomal disorder. It was while they were away that Mya’s development began to slow. The boys left home at around the same time-as Davon enrolled in college, Devin moved to Mississippi to finish high school and and play for his father, former NBA player Melvin Booker. Devin and Davon would play everything from basketball to kickball, and Mya would watch and cheer from the deck. They all share the same mother, Veronica Gutierrez, and they spent most of their afternoons in the backyard. Only years later would Devin realize how meaningful that first friendship would be.ĭevin was raised in Grand Rapids, Mich., with his older half-brother, Davon Wade, and his younger half-sister, Mya Powell. They didn’t share a classroom, but Devin made sure they shared lunch on most days, and Caleb became one of the biggest fans of the Grandville Middle School Bulldogs, for whom Devin was a star. When he was in middle school, his group of friends included a boy named Caleb who had Down syndrome. Devin says he’s always formed fast and easy friendships with people with special needs. It didn’t take long for Devin to notice Jenna, and it wasn’t just because she watched every warmup and shrieked for each uncontested jumper he sank.

Devin booker sister