Kevin Durant is making a bold prediction for Texas Longhorns star Madison Booker. The NBA great believes Booker's No. 35 jersey will be retired alongside his own in the rafters. This high praise comes as Booker leads the Longhorns into the Final Four.

The Junior Forward has been the centrepiece behind the Texas Longhorns’ Final 4 entry. And ESPNW’s latest post highlighted that his vision goes beyond that.

“I felt like she was the perfect first slayer to join the team”, the Houston Rockets’ star said on Booker. “What she's done at the University of Texas is going to be two 35s retired in those rafters when she's done.”

After Durant’s historical run with the Longhorns, Texas just had to retire his 35. No, on February 25, 2009, during halftime of a game against Texas Tech. And seeing Booker rising to that calibre, KD knows it’s her turn soon.

We've seen Booker put up incredible numbers. In this NCAA season, she totaled 90 points, averaging 22.5 per game, with a career high NCAA game against Oregon. And at the moment, she's a frontrunner for the John R. Wooden Award.

So if the Longhorns do retire her jersey, we wouldn't be surprised. Only 3 men and 2 women Longhorns had their jerseys retired in the franchise's history.

Kevin Durant Said Madison Booker Has a “Bright” Future

Averaging 19.3 points, 6.7 rebounds, and 3.8 assists this season, Booker even had a 40-pointer game against the Oregon Ducks just recently. But the 2x NBA title winner and 2x MVP didn’t need to see all these.

“Our point guard went out early this year, so she had to step up and assume a different role, playing a point-forward," Durant said last March. "Future is bright. As a freshman, she's got so much more to do, but she's already staking claim in this league right now.”

While KD said that Booker is “going to be even better as she moves forward”, receiving such praise from her favourite player is also huge. Because when “You look up to somebody's game a lot, and they also love your game, that means you're doing something right.”

Moving forward, while Texas takes on the UCLA Bruins for the semifinal round soon, do you think Booker will prove KD right further?

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Written by

Deblina Roy

Edited by

Siddharth Shirwadkar