Cameron and Cayden Boozer are creating their own path

​PORTLAND, Ore. – Former NBA All-Star Carlos Boozer was about to play golf during some downtime at the Final Four this month when he was approached by a fan. Standing 6-foot-9 with his signature bald head and beard, it’s tough for Boozer not to be seen in a crowd.

To his delight, Boozer was actually recognized for another reason.

​“’Hey, Mr. Boozer, you’re Cameron and Cayden’s dad?’ I get that all the time,” Carlos told Andscape. “It probably happened for the first time two or three years ago. Every game they play is at an NBA level [of interest]… Their game has gone viral since they were freshman [in high school].

​“I’m proud of them. I was in San Antonio and went to play golf. And a guy said, ‘Oh my God, you’re Cameron and Cayden’s dad!’ I was like, ‘Damn right I am.’ ”

​The fraternal Boozer twins, Cameron and Cayden, are now basketball stars in their own right following their father’s footsteps to Duke University. The 6-foot-9, 246-pound Cameron is ranked as the third-best high school senior in the ESPN 100 Class of 2025. Cayden is a 6-4, 208-pound guard who is ranked 16th in the ESPN 100 for 2025.

​Like father, like sons, the Boozers twins represented USA during the Nike Hoop Summit on Saturday night where the select group of American high school seniors defeated the a select international team 124-114 in overtime at Moda Center. Cameron had 22 points, a game-high 16 rebounds, six assists and three steals in 38 minutes while Cayden had four points and two assists in 13 minutes. Carlos won a gold medal with USA Basketball during the 2008 Beijing Olympics and that team will be inducted into the Naismith Basketball Hall of Fame Class of 2025.

“It was a great experience,” Cameron told Andscape about Hoop Summit. “Playing against some of the top international prospects was great to see who we are competing with overseas. Coming from America, you don’t really see too many international prospects unless you’re playing for Team USA. You don’t see all the top prospects in one location.

“It was great to compete against them. I really enjoyed playing against the top American players as well.”

​Carlos Boozer starred at Duke, winning an NCAA national championship in 2001. It was at Duke that Carlos met Cindy “CeCe” Blackwell and they married in 2003. Carlos and CeCe both graduated from Duke and had three sons, Carmani, Cameron and Cayden, with the twins born on July 18, 2007, in Salt Lake City. Carlos and CeCe divorced in 2015 but co-parent their children.

Carlos was a second-round pick (35th overall) in the 2002 NBA draft by the Cleveland Cavaliers. The 13-year NBA veteran averaged 16.2 points and 9.5 rebounds over his career with Cleveland, the Utah Jazz, Miami Heat and Los Angeles Lakers from 2002 to 2015. The Juneau, Alaska, native was also a 2007-08 All-NBA third-team selection and an NBA All-Star in 2007 and 2008.

​The Boozers twins fondly recall going to their father’s NBA games during the latter part of his career and have a strong respect for his basketball resume.

​“He had a great career,” Cameron said. “He played 13 seasons, two-time All-Star, an Olympic gold medal. Not too many people are able to do that, especially as an undersized [power forward] when the NBA was so much bigger. He had an amazing career.”

​The Boozer twins have been well-known on the prep basketball scene nationally since they were in junior high. Carlos said he sensed a “light bulb went on” with his twins with basketball from a skill standpoint with the growth of their bodies in junior high. CeCe said she knew they had a future in basketball by their stellar play in the eighth grade.

Cameron actually ranked ahead of projected 2025 No. 1 draft pick Cooper Flagg entering the summer of 2023 (Flagg reclassified to the high school class of 2024). Cameron was named MVP at the FIBA Americas U16 Championship in 2023 and won the MVP award at the FIBA U17 World Cup in 2024. Cayden has also won two gold medals with USA Basketball and led the U17 World Cup in assists with 6.4 per game despite averaging just over 18 minutes per game. The Boozer twins led Christopher Columbus (Miami) High School to four-straight state titles and the 2025 Chipotle Nationals crown.

So how big was the legacy that the Boozer twins set in South Florida?

“It hasn’t set in for me yet,” Cayden said. “Obviously, for the school and everyone in South Florida, it’s a real big thing. I’m still in it. I can’t really process it the same as everyone else.

“But it’s been a great four years. Being able to play for a school like Columbus that believed in us no matter what with a coaching staff that believed in us since we got there is an amazing feeling. Doing what we did for the school is so amazing.”

Once the public and social media got wind of the Boozer twins, however, it became challenging to live up to their father’s name. Carlos said that his twins faced similar scrutiny in today’s social media age that he faced in the NBA. CeCe said that her twins fought through it all “to be great.”

“You have a huge target on your back,” Carlos said. “There’s something that doesn’t get talked about a lot when you have a dad that played, that walked in your same shoes. But they’ve handled that s— with such grace. They made their own path, made their own names and they worked their a– off.

“They got NBA-level coverage since they were in eighth grade. And to do it without any hiccups speaks volumes.”

​Said Cameron: “Me and Cayden, most of our lives we were being called ‘Carlos Boozer’s sons.’ The Boozer twins. We didn’t even have our own name until the last couple years of high school. For us, it’s about creating your own path.”

​While the Boozer twins picked Duke, Cameron said the men’s basketball program being connected to his father was viewed by them with negativity at first.

​So in order to best to receive the best scouting process, CeCe had a plan: It was mandatory for college coaches to recruit Cayden and Cameron separately.

​“From the beginning, I told [college coaches], ‘You need to call them individually, you need to have a conversation with them about their role individually,’ ” CeCe said. “‘How they will be utilized, what you envision, how they will fit into your offense because they are two different people at two different positions.’ What may be right for one may not be right for the other. And I let everyone know that was really important from the very beginning.”

Cayden said that the taller Cameron is the more outgoing of the Boozer twins.

​“I understand how we can get bunched in together,” Cayden said. “But at the end of the day, we’re individuals. We have to do what is best for ourselves.”

​The Boozer twins announced on Oct. 11, 2024, that they were following in their parents’ footsteps by committing to Duke. While Duke is obviously close to their hearts, their parents said they did not add any pressure to their twins’ decision. Carlos did say it was “awesome” for the twins to go to Duke because him and CeCe met there. Cameron said that one of the biggest attractors for him to Duke was the university consistently producing top NBA draft picks.

​“I just felt like it was the best decision for me from a basketball standpoint, an academic standpoint and a future standpoint,” Cayden said. “As a basketball player there, you’re going to play in those big games that you always wanted to play in when you were a kid with the best development.

​“Being at Duke is going to get me to the next level I’ve been dreaming about as a kid. There are so many connections at Duke that it’s really hard to pass up. After the ball stops bouncing, you’re going to have a lot of connections that are going to help you in the business world.”

​Said Carlos: “Looking back on it, we get a lot of nostalgic moments when we go back to campus in general. We will probably have some tears in our eyes when we watch them play their first game.”

​The Boozer twins are projected to be prospects for the 2026 NBA draft. Both have complemented each other on the floor for years as an inside-outside punch.

Cameron and Cayden have been playing on the same basketball team since the second grade. But with a one-and-done option to play one season at Duke before going to the NBA NBA, Cayden acknowledged being sentimental about it potentially being his last season playing with his twin brother.

“Now, it’s super-sentimental,” Cayden told Andscape. “It’s one of the last things I get to do as a high schooler. Obviously, I’ve won for my school. I was able to play in the McDonald’s All-American Game. Now I was able to play in the Nike Hoop Summit. It was a tough game today, but we got the win.”

​Said Cameron: “I’m more excited than sentimental being around my brother. We get to choose to play with each other. Maybe later we will be [sentimental], but not likely. We’re just enjoying it and taking it all in.”

​Despite the long odds, Carlos believes his twins could end up by chance being NBA teammates.

​“What if they get drafted by the same team?” Carlos asked.

​Rolling her eyes, CeCe responded: “Oh my God, we’re just going to keep the party going.”

​For CeCe, her sentimental feelings have arrived already, as she knows she will soon be an empty nester.

Carmani moved out of the house a year ago, although he is still nearby as a freshman pitcher at the University of Fort Lauderdale. The Boozer twins will be 830 miles away from home this summer at Duke, but expect mom and dad to be regulars at the Blue Devils’ home and away games.

​“We’ll still be mom and dad,” Carlos said. “We will still be there for them. Through good times and bad times, we have to support them through it all and still give them confidence. I think also we got to let them swim a little bit. The great thing about college and the choice that they made is they get a chance to get away from us and be a little independent, even though it’s extremely structured over there, and hang out with other men going on the same journey.

​“But at least they will have each other to go through it with. When we went to college it was just us. I had her when I went to college. She had me. They will have each other to be there for each, too.”

​Said CeCe: “We want to just continue to be their safe space and sounding board, to feel like you have us no matter what.”