Kevin Durant Essay

The word basketball and Kevin Durant go together naturally. Nicknamed The Second Coming, The Durantula, KD, and K-Dog , Durant is an American basketball player who has risen to become one of the top players in the NBA in a very short time period (Doedon). As you will see, hard work and persistence demonstrated by this scoring superstar are powerful forces, even in the face of obstacles.

Born on September 29, 1988 in Suitland, Maryland, Kevin Wayne Durant is a high profile basketball player who has a stellar history playing for the Seattle Supersonics, Oklahoma City, and currently, as of 2016, the Golden State Warriors. Durant is an eight time National Basketball Association (NBA) All Star and all time NBA scoring champion (kevindurant.com). Durant has also claimed the NBA rookie of the year award, and two Olympic medals. Amazingly, at just 28 years old, Durant seems to get better and better in every aspect of his game. As a result, Durant has risen to be one of the top players of the NBA in only few years, and is known as “a nightmare” to his opponents. However, Durant is also one of the most liked players of the NBA because of his general humbleness and his seemingly unreal athletic ability on the court (Savage).

Before

Kevin Durant was a year old, his father abandoned the family, leaving Durant’s mother and grandmother to raise him as well as his three siblings. Evidently, Durant and his two brothers and sister grew up loving sports and Durant’s size helped perpetuate this desire. In fact, by the time Durant was in middle school, he was six foot two and over a head taller than everyone in his class. Unfortunately other students often teased Durant about his size. Durant literally stood out among his peers and therefore felt as if he didn’t belong. However, Durant’s grandmother encouraged him, telling young Durant that his height was a blessing (nba.com). It is safe to say that she was correct with that statement.
Yet another inspiration in Durant’s young life was his mother, to whom he attributes much of his success. She, as Durant explains, always encouraged him and taught him to always keep growing to his full potential. By the time Durant was about thirteen years old, his father had come back into his life and traveled with him as Durant took part in basketball tournaments around the country (Doeden). Durant's success started with the PG Jaguars, an Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) youth basketball team in Maryland. During the second half of the finals, he was able to score 18 points, which inspired him to play professionally in the future. However, Durant’s teammates were seniors who didn’t appreciate a freshman butting in and taking control of their team. Therefore, Durant's teammates would never pass him the ball during the scrimmages. In fact, often the point guard would pass the ball to another player even if Durant was wide open. Durant went home angry and frustrated, and would have quit if it were not for his mother telling Durant that if he quits, no one would ever pass a ball to him ever again. Durant came to the court the next day, and worked hard until finally his teammates started passing him the ball. As a result of this persistence, his team won two National Championships during Durant's time with Maryland (kevindurant.com). Interestingly, famous future NBA players, Michael Beasley, Ty Lawson and Greivis Vasquez, were Durant’s teammates, and they continue to be friends to this day. It is also important to note that Kevin Durant wears the number 35 to honor his late mentor and AAU basketball coach, Charles Craig, who was murdered at age 35 (Doedon).
Kevin Durant played two years of basketball at National Christian Academy High School and one year at Oak Hill Academy. During Durant’s senior year, he moved over to Montrose Christian school, all the while growing five inches before the season even started! At this point, Durant was already 6 foot 7 inches tall. Also before the beginning of the basketball season, Durant committed to the University of Texas. Without a doubt, Durant was a collegiate success and was announced as the Most Valuable Player of the 2006 Mcdonald's All American Game, and the Washington Post All-Met Basketball Player of the Year (Savage).
Now, Kevin had landed on the radar of basically every major college program in the nation.

He had the quickness and ball handling skills of a point guard, even at 6 foot 9, and a wingspan of 7 foot 4 ¾ inches. Durant, still attending the University of Texas, was averaging 28.5 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists per game during the 2006-7 season. Furthermore, Durant was honored as the first college freshman to earn the Naismith College Player of the Year along with a multitude of other high honors (nba.com). It was not surprising, of course, that after college, Durant would enter the high profile life in the NBA. Durant played for one total year with the Longhorns before being drafted into the NBA

(kevindurant.com).
At just age nineteen, Durant was chosen as the overall second pick in the 2007 NBA draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. Soon after, Durant signed his first endorsement, a 60 million dollar contract with Nike. Adidas offered him a 70 million dollar contract, but since Durant had worn Nike all his life, he couldn't imagine himself wearing any different sports brand. Awards seemed to follow Durant continuously and in fact, Durant, along with LeBron James and Carmelo Anthony are the only teenagers in league history to average at least 20 points per game over an entire season (nba.com).
The following year, the SuperSonics moved from Seattle to Oklahoma, becoming the Oklahoma City Thunder. The team also drafted the UCLA guard Russell Westbrook, who would form an All-Star partnership with Durant in later seasons. Together, Westbrook and Durant would later go on the surpass many NBA records (Doedon).
Future basketball seasons for Durant from 2009 to the present are marked with exceptional success. Durant has helped his team earn first seed in the Western conference and even scored a career high of 30 points per game during the 2012-13 season. Durant continues to be the youngest NBA player in history to join the 50-40-90 club. He had a shooting rate of 51%, a three point shooting rate of 41.6% and a free throw shooting rate of 90.5% (Savage).
The future for Kevin Durant is promising. Having become an unrestricted free agent at the end of the 2016 season, Durant afforded the opportunity to move away from Oklahoma City Thunder (nba.com). He continues to amaze players and fans alike while on the court with the Golden State Warriors. In closing, Durant is a player and role model to be admired. Surrounded by other basketball players with overly-high egos, Durant has been able to maintain his humbleness, which has made him a favorite of basketball fans. He has been destined for greatness from the start and we can only imagine what is in store on the court.