David Booth (born May 28, 1970) is an American basketball executive and former professional player. A native of Peoria, Illinois, Booth played for Manual High School, where he reached the Class AA Tournaments in three consecutive seasons; he would later be inducted in the Greater Peoria Sports Hall of Fame. He then played 4 years of college basketball with DePaul, and graduated as the second best scorer in program history with 1,933 total points. After going undrafted in the 1992 NBA draft, Booth started his career in France and over a 13-year span he also played in Greece, Italy, Japan, the Philippines and Venezuela. In 2009, Booth was inducted in DePaul's Hall of Fame.
High school career
Booth was born in Peoria, Illinois and he attended Manual High School there. Listed at and , he mainly played as a center, though he was sometimes used at the forward position. Booth gave significant contribution to the team since his sophomore season in 1986, reaching the Class AA tournament; in his junior season in 1987 he averaged 17.2 points and 7.2 rebounds per game, while his team had a 26–0 record before losing in overtime to Quincy, 59–61 during the Class AA tournament; that year, Booth was an Honorable Mention All-State selection. In his senior season, Booth helped his team reach the Class AA tournament for the third consecutive year, losing in the semifinal game to Lincoln High School, which was led by future NBA players LaPhonso Ellis and Cuonzo Martin: Booth had 20 points and 12 rebounds in that game.
College career
Booth had attracted the interest of several NCAA Division I programs, including Bradley, DePaul, Iowa, Marquette, Michigan and Purdue: he verbally committed to DePaul in November 1987, and later signed officially to play for them. In his first season with DePaul, Booth started 10 out of 33 games, and averaged 9.9 points, 4.4 rebounds, 1.5 assist and 1.1 steals in 21.8 minutes per game.
Booth received increased playing time in his sophomore season in 1989–90, playing 1,140 total minutes (32.6 per game) and he improved his averages to 16.9 points, 6.1 rebounds, 1.9 assists, 1.4 steals and 1.3 blocks per game. On January 27, 1990, Booth scored a season-high and then career-high 37 points in a 66 62 win against Louisville. This performance earned him the National Player of the Week award by Sports Illustrated.
Booth started the 1990–91 season as one of the main players in DePaul's rotation and he played 29 games, averaging a career-best 18.7 points along with 6.8 rebounds, 1.7 assists, 1.4 steals and 1 block per game; On December 15, 1990, he scored his career high with DePaul with 40 points against UCLA. In his senior season he was named team captain; on December 21, 1991, he scored 30 points against Baylor. He was the top scorer of DePaul's first conference home game on January 11, 1992, against Memphis (25 points) and he scored a season-high 35 points against Loyola Marymount on January 15. Booth was a Great Midwest Conference First team selection after averaging 17.4 points, 5.3 rebounds, 1.3 assists and 1.5 steals per game over 27 appearances (all starts), playing an average of 29.6 minutes per game; he also improved his shooting, and shot career-highs in field goal percentage (51.1%), three-point field goal percentage (41.2%) and free throw percentage (77.3%).
He graduated as the first player in DePaul's history to record 1,500 points, 500 rebounds, 200 assists and 100 blocks.
Professional career
After graduating from DePaul, Booth was automatically eligible for the 1992 NBA draft: in a June 24, 1992 article The Philadelphia Inquirer indicated him as one of the best small forwards available in the draft. He had participated in pre-draft workouts with some NBA teams, including the New Jersey Nets, and took part in the Orlando All-Star Classic, a game for college seniors attended by NBA scouts, where he scored 16 points and had 6 rebounds. Despite interest from NBA teams, Booth went undrafted. He was drafted in the 3rd round (41st overall) of the Continental Basketball Association (CBA) draft by the Rapid City Thrillers. Booth decided not to sign with the Thrillers and moved instead to France, starting his professional career with Évreux in the LNB Pro B, the second tier of French basketball. In his rookie season, he averaged 26.7 points, 6.9 rebounds and 2.9 assists per game while also shooting 43.3% from three over 22 games (38.6 minutes per game).