Kevin Durant

Basketball player Kevin Durant rose from highly recruited college prospect to key player with the Oklahoma City Thunder (formerly Seattle SuperSonics), with which he had earned multiple scoring titles as well as Rookie of the Year and Most Valuable Player awards. Born Kevin Wayne Durant in Washington, D.C. on September 29, 1988, he was raised primarily by his mother, Wanda and grandmother, Barbara Davis, until his teenaged years, when his father, Wayne Pratt, reunited with the family. He began playing basketball in the Amateur Athletic Union alongside fellow future National Basketball Association players Michael Beasley and Ty Lawson, before playing at a variety of high schools. Standing 6'7" in his senior year, Durant earned attention from the national media and college recruiters, who considered him the second best high school prospect of 2006. He committed to the University of Texas prior to graduation, and in his freshman year averaged 25.8 points and 11 rebounds a game. After leading the Texas Longhorns to the National Collegiate Athlete Association (NCAA) Men's Basketball Championship, where they fell to the University of Southern California, and claiming the Naismith College Player of the Year Award, he officially entered the National Basketball Association (NBA) draft. He was chosen second overall in the first round by the Seattle Supersonics, where his first year average of 20.3 points and 4.4 rebounds per game helped to earn Durant the 2007 NBA Rookie of the Year award. Durant followed the SuperSonics' transition to the Oklahoma City Thunder in 2008 and enjoyed a stellar sophomore season, raising his scoring average to 25.3 points per game and playing in his first All-Star Game. By 2010, Durant was leading the NBA in scoring with 27.7 points per game, and held the title for the next two years while also leading the Thunder to two playoffs and a gold medal with the U.S. National Team at the London Olympics in 2012. His 2013 season began on a high note when he was voted Most Valuable Player, but he struggled for the remainder of the year and into 2014 with inconsistent playing and injuries that kept him on and off the bench into 2015. Durant rebounded the following year by setting a string of records: he and Thunder point guard Russell Westbrook became the first teammates to score at least 40 points in a game in more than two decades, and later, the first teammates to each score 25 points and 10 assists in a single game. Durant also achieved a career high of 20 points in 64 consecutive games, but struggled in the first round of playoffs against the Dallas Mavericks before eventually losing to the Golden State Warriors. That same year, Durant was named to the 12-man roster for the U.S. National Team's Olympic bid in Rio while also entering free agent status after nine years with the Thunder.