Kevin Wayne Durant (1988- )

August 02, 2017 
/ Contributed By: Samuel Momodu

Kevin Durant

Kevin Durant

Photo by All-Pro Reels (CC BY-SA 2.0)

Kevin Wayne Durant is a professional basketball player for the National Basketball Association (NBA) who has played for the Oklahoma City Thunder (formally known as Seattle Supersonics), the Golden State Warriors, the Brooklyn Nets, and the Phoenix Suns. Durant was born September 29, 1988, in Washington, D.C., to Wanda Durant and Wayne Pratt. Durantโ€™s father abandoned the family when he was still an infant, leaving his mother and grandmother, Barbara Davis, to raise him. Durantโ€™s father later returned to his life when Durant was 13 years old.

Durantโ€™s involvement in sports began when he played for a youth basketball team in Prince Georgeโ€™s County, Maryland, called the PG Jaguars. Durant attended several Christian schools where he played high school basketball.ย  His first two years were spent at the National Christian Academy located in Fort Washington, Maryland. Durant then attended Oak Hill Academy, a private Baptist secondary school in Mouth-of-Wilson, Virginia, during his junior year and then transferred to Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Maryland, for his senior year.ย  Despite his frequent transfers, sports writers recognized his talent. Durant was named to Pride Magazineโ€™s First Team list and USA Todayโ€™s First Team All-American lists.

After graduating from high school in 2006, Durant attended the University of Texas at Austin, where he played for the Texas Longhorns menโ€™s basketball team. During his freshman year with the Longhorns, Durant started in every game and averaged 25.8 points per game and 11 rebounds. He helped lead the Longhorns to the second round of the National College Athletic Association (NCAA) Menโ€™s Basketball Championship, which the Longhorns lost to the University of Southern California. At the end of his freshman year, Durant was national college player of the year (2007), First Team All-American (2007), winner of the Oscar Robertson and the Adolph F. Rupp Awards, and he was named the Big 12 Tournamentโ€™s Most Valuable Player.

After playing one year with the Longhorns, Durant declared eligibility for the NBA Draft. He was picked second overall in the first round of the 2007 NBA Draft by the Seattle Supersonics. During his rookie season, Durant was a member of the Rookie All-First Team and named NBA Rookie of the Year (2008). After the 2007-2008 season ended, the Supersonics relocated from Seattle, Washington, to Oklahoma City, Oklahoma, and became the Oklahoma City Thunder.

During Durantโ€™s time with the Thunder, he was a seven-time NBA All-Star (2010-2016), NBA All-Star Game MVP (2012), four-time NBA scoring champion (2010-2012, 2014), and the leagueโ€™s Most Valuable Player (2014). In 2012, Durant and Russell Westbrook led the Thunder to the NBA Championship Series, where they lost in five games to the Miami (Florida) Heat, led by LeBron James, Dwayne Wade, and Chris Bosh.

Durant remained with the Thunder until the end of the 2016 season when he joined the Golden State Warriors. Together with teammates Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson, and Draymond Green, the Warriors met in the 2017 NBA Championship Series, where they defeated the Cleveland Cavaliers led by LeBron James, Kyrie Irving, and Kevin Love. Although the Warriors won their fifth national championship, it was the first for Durant, who also earned MVP honors for the five-game series. In the summer of 2019, Durant signed with the Brooklyn Nets.

Kevin Durant is single and has no children.

About the Author

Author Profile

Samuel Momodu, a native of Nashville, Tennessee, received his Associate of Arts Degree in History from Nashville State Community College in December 2014 and a Bachelor of Arts Degree in History from Tennessee State University in May 2016. He received his Master of Arts Degree in history from Southern New Hampshire University in June 2019.

Momoduโ€™s main areas of research interest are African and African American History. His passion for learning Black history led him to contribute numerous entries to BlackPast.org for the last few years. Momodu has also worked as a history tour guide at President Andrew Jacksonโ€™s plantation home near Nashville, the Hermitage. He is currently an instructor at Tennessee State University. His passion for history has also helped him continue his education. In 2024, he received his Ph.D. in History from Liberty University, writing a dissertation titled The Protestant Vatican: Black Churches Involvement in the Nashville Civil Rights Movement 1865-1972. He hopes to use his Ph.D. degree to become a university professor or professional historian.

CITE THIS ENTRY IN APA FORMAT:

Momodu, S. (2017, August 02). Kevin Wayne Durant (1988- ). BlackPast.org. https://www.blackpast.org/african-american-history/durant-kevin-wayne-1988/

Source of the Author's Information:

โ€œKevin Durant,โ€ Biography, https://www.biography.com/people/kevin-durant-20929909; โ€œKevin Durant,โ€ JockBio, http://www.jockbio.com/Bios/Durant/Durant_bio.html; โ€œKevin Durant,โ€ Kevin Durant, http://kevindurant.com/.

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