The Life and Times of Kevin Durant, Basketball Player By Aidan Truong Kevin Durant is one of the best basketball players in the world right now. He plays the forward position for the Oklahoma City Thunder, a professional team in the National Basketball Association (NBA). He has won many awards in his career, but not only is he good on the court, he’s good off the court, too. He’s always having fun with fans and people in his community, and he’s seen as a really nice person. He has done a lot of things for Oklahoma. “It’s home, says Durant.” He is hero in the eyes of many people, including mine. Kevin Durant was born on September 29, 1988 in Suitland, Maryland, which is a suburb of Washington D.C. His parents were Wanda and Wayne Pratt. Kevin is the youngest of their four children. Durant has two brothers and one sister. The two brothers’ names are Anthony and Rayvonne, and his sister’s name is Brianna. As it happens, Anthony is also a basketball player today. As Durant was growing up, his father worked at the Library of Congress, and his mother worked at as a U.S. postal employee. Apparently, Wayne and Wanda did not get along very well. Wayne Pratt left the family before Kevin’s first birthday. About ten years later, Wayne apologized to the family and said that he wanted peace with them. He told them that he left the family because he had four children at a very young age, and he said that it had been too much responsibility for him, but that it was selfish of him to abandon the family. When Wayne left the family, it played a big part in Kevin’s life and his family’s life. It wasn’t easy getting money and food for the family. Durant’s grandmother, Barbara, went to help take care of Kevin and his siblings with Wanda. Barbara was always filling Kevin’s life with positivity. She always told him that his height was a blessing, whenever the kids in his class tease him for being so tall. Since he was 6’9” in high school -which is still his current height today - he definitely attracted a lot of attention. She did her best to ensure that Kevin and his siblings had a stable childhood. Durant got his start in sports by playing football during his early school years. However, football wasn’t a year-long sport, so he tried to play basketball instead, and he fell in love with the game. It was around that time that Durant met Taras Brown. Durant was very young - about 9 years old - when his mother first introduced him to Brown. At that time, Brown coached a local Amatuer Athletic Union (AAU) team that practiced in the Seat Pleasant Activity Center. Kevin and Taras spent lots and lots of hours in the gym and Taras made him work hard everyday. Durant said, “I would do 100 laps. Crab walks. Duck walks. Run hills and everything. Anything he could think of, we did. It was brutal, but I fought through it every day. I never quit. I told myself to never be a quitter. That was my mentality.” (Allen, 2007). After a year or two of working out with Brown in the gym from 9-5 every day - almost like a full-time job - Brown decided that Kevin had real talent. Kevin, though, was so tired. That’s when he had a life-changing conversation with his mother. Everyone realized that Durant had the ability to go all the way, and that he needed to follow his dream. At that point, basketball became Durant’s life. “If people knew what he did and what he’s done, it’s amazing,” said Wayne Pratt, Durant’s father. “You’re talking about going to school, coming back from school, getting your homework done, running maybe a mile from your grandmother’s house to the gym, working out at the gym and then calling your grandmother to bring your dinner to the gym. And that’s an 11- or 12-year-old kid. That’s dedication.” (Allen, 2007). Last but not least, Brown made Durant memorize a quote that has shaped his entire life: “Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard”. (Allen, 2007) Durant’s first basketball team was the PG Jaguars, an AAU basketball team for kids in Prince George’s County, Maryland, when he was eleven years old. He won two national championships with the team, which was a big achievement for a player at such a young age. Charles Craig was Kevin’s first basketball coach and was a big influence on Durant’s life. Charles always pushed Kevin and tried to make him a better player. Craig and Durant had a father-son relationship, and Craig would do a lot of things for Durant, like taking him to games and movies. Craig also bought Durant food when Durant couldn’t afford any. Charles Craig died at the age of 35. That is the reason that Kevin Durant wears No. 35 today. His jersey with the number 35 is one of the top-selling jerseys today. In high school, Kevin Durant played for the National Christian Academy and Montrose Christian School which were in Maryland, and Oak Hill Academy, which was in Virginia. Other current NBA stars like Rajon Rondo and Carmelo Anthony went to Oak Hill Academy. One unfortunate aspect to Kevin’s life is that a lot of people bullied him because he was so tall. His grandmother told him to ignore the bullies, because she said that being tall was a good thing. Kevin graduated from Montrose Christian School in 2005, as the nation’s No. 2 high school prospect! (Mayberry, 2010). Kevin Durant committed to the University of Texas in Austin, Texas in 2006. He decided to choose the University of Texas over other big colleges like the University of Kentucky and Duke University. Austin has a very healthy atmosphere, with a lot of fit people, and it is really hot there in the summer, too. Austin has a lot of places to get fit and was ranked one of the fittest cities. Russell Springman, who was a University of Texas Longhorns assistant basketball coach, was born in Maryland. He had been in contact with Kevin Durant since Kevin was a freshman in high school. This was one of the big reasons why Kevin Durant chose to go to the University of Texas. Kevin played 35 games in college and started in all of them. During the 35 games, he averaged 25.8 points per game, which made him the 4th highest scorer in the U.S and the number one scorer in the Big 12 during the 2006-2007 college season. He was the Big 12 Tournament’s Most Valuable Player in 2007. He broke a record in the Big 12 tournament by scoring a total of 92 points, which no one has beaten since Kevin moved to the NBA. He also scored a total of 903 points in the season, and he was 1st in the Big 12 and 3rd in the U.S for total points in a season. Kevin Durant was also the first freshman to ever win the Oscar Robertson and Adolph F. Rupp awards. The University of Texas retired his number, so no one can wear number 35 again. Kevin Durant graduated from the University of Texas in 2007. He was drafted as the 2nd pick in the first round in the 2007 NBA draft by the Seattle Super Sonics. When he entered the NBA, he signed a $60 million deal with Nike. Kevin Durant’s rookie season was pretty successful. He was named the Rookie of the Year and had many other achievements. After that year, the Super Sonic’s organization moved to Oklahoma City, and their name became the Oklahoma City Thunder. Kevin Durant continued being successful there. He was selected to play in the NBA All-Star game seven times, and won the NBA All-Star game Most Valuable Player (MVP) award in 2012. The All- Star game starting players and MVP are voted on by all of the basketball fans, so this shows that Kevin was a very popular player. He also led the NBA in scoring four times, and was the 8th player in the history of the game to that. Kevin also won the Kia NBA MVP (Most Valuable Player) during the 2013-14 season. During his speech at the MVP Awards, he talked a lot of about his friends and family, especially his mom. His mom played a big part in his life; she even goes to every Oklahoma City Thunder game when they play at home (Chesapeake Energy Arena)! He is also has the mental traits to become a great player. Kevin has great leadership to lead his team to victory. Durant has also played internationally! He was named the 2010 Federation Internationale de Basketball (FIBA) World Championship Most Valuable Player by the International Basketball Federation. He was also chosen to play with the 2012 U.S. Olympic basketball team in London. At the 2012 Olympic Games, the U.S. basketball team took home the gold medal. Durant definitely played an important role. Kevin Durant is not only known for being amazing on the court, but also off the court. Kevin has donated a lot of money to charitable causes during the times where bad things have happened around the country.