Kevin Durant – American Basketball Player

Kevin Durant is a professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association (NBA) taking the position of small forward. He has received multiple awards and recognition including Most Valuable Player and Rookie of the Year among others. He was the second overall pick of Seattle SuperSonics in the 2007 NBA draft. He used to be a part of the Oklahoma City Thunders from 2007 to 2016 before moving to the Golden State Warriors where he won his first championship game in the 71st NBA season.

He is an endorser for famous sports brands like Foot Locker and Nike. In 2012, he also played as himself in the movie Thunderstruck. His character in the movie slowly lost his ability to score in a game after signing a special edition OKC Thunder basketball that belonged to the protagonist, Brian. Aside from those, Kevin’s other off-court work include leading the All-Star jersey sales and some philanthropic acts. Overall, Kevin is considered one of the highest-earning basketball players in the world.

Early Life of Kevin

Kevin Wayne Durant was born on September 29, 1988, in Washington D.C. He grew up on the outskirts of Washington D.C., particularly Prince George’s County in Maryland.

Even at a young age, Kevin was remarkably tall. His height in middle school was already 6ft or 1.83 meters. He studied at National Christian Academy where he played for their basketball team for two years before transferring to Oak Hill Academy where he played for a year. During his senior year, he joined Montrose Christian School. Throughout that season, he gained a total of seven inches and was 6ft 7 inches tall. Before starting his last high school basketball season, Kevin was already signed for the University of Texas.

He ended the season as the Washington Post All-Met Basketball Player of the Year and Most Valuable Player of the 2006 McDonald’s All-American Game.

Family of Kevin

Kevin was born to Wanda Durant and Wayne Pratt. But, most of his younger years, only his mother and grandmother, Barbara Davis, raised him after his father left. Wayne abandoned them even before Kevin turned one year old. During this time, his father was only 23 years of age. His father worked in the Library of Congress while his mother worked for the postal service. His parents, later on, ended up with an official divorce.

By the time he was 13 years of age, Kevin’s father, Wayne, came back to his life. Although not easy at first, he did not stop trying to patch the relationship between him, his children, and his ex-wife, Kevin’s mother. It took ten years before Kevin and Wayne have completely made amends. Wayne can then be seen going with Kevin in basketball tournaments.

The siblings of Kevin are Brianna, Rayvonne, and the brother he spent most of his time growing up with, Tony. His older brother also played for college basketball in Towson. In one of Kevin’s acceptance speeches, he said, “you taught me to feel confident in myself, believe in myself; that I could do it when I didn’t think I could do it.” Kevin and all of his siblings opted to use their grandfather’s family name “Durant” instead of their father’s family name, “Pratt.”