On the biggest night of his basketball life, Cameron Boozer got a sweet message from his longtime girlfriend.
Yva Lauren Cao took to her Instagram page on Tuesday to shout out the ex-Duke star just after he was taken by the Memphis Grizzlies with the No. 3 overall pick in the 2026 NBA Draft.
“Memphis just gained the best there is!!” Cao wrote on a photo of Boozer at Barclays Center in Brooklyn. “So proud of you and beyond grateful to watch your dreams become reality.
“Your talent is undeniable, but who you are is what makes me proudest. I love you endlessly. This is only the beginning. Here we gooo.”
Cao, wearing a red dress, was right by Boozer’s side at the league’s draft and was the last person he hugged before he went on stage to greet commissioner Adam Silver.
Cao also shouted out Boozer the day before his big draft-night moment, sharing a picture of the two lovingly embracing in front of a fountain with the caption, “Friends fountain with my best friend.”
She added a yellow heart emoji as well.
Cao, a University of Miami cheerleader, and Boozer were high school sweethearts who kept their romance going over the last year despite the distance between their two colleges.
Boozer was actually seen supporting her at a Hurricanes basketball game during a Duke break earlier this year, and in November, Cao showed in a series of social media photos that she attended one of his Blue Devils games before vowing to “be back soon.”
As for how Boozer felt after he was drafted, the power forward told Lisa Salters in a sitdown interview that it all was an “amazing” situation for him, “for sure.”
[Notigroup Newsroom in collaboration with other media outlets, with information from the following sources]
