Real Sports Network - Kevin Durant

Get in the game with your favorite athletes:

BECKY SAUERBRUNN

TAMBA HALI

KEVIN DURANT

SLOANE STEPHENS

An imprint of Simon & Schuster Childrens Publishing Division

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First Aladdin paperback edition November 2019

Text copyright 2019 by Real Sports Content Network Inc.

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Cover figure photograph copyright 2019 by Phil Walter/Getty Images

Also available in an Aladdin hardcover edition.

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Series designed by Greg Stadnyk

Interior designed by Tom Daly

Library of Congress Control Number 2019939319

ISBN 978-1-4814-8223-3 (hc)

ISBN 978-1-4814-8222-6 (pbk)

ISBN 978-1-4814-8224-0 (eBook)

BIRTHDAY: September 29, 1988

HOMETOWN: Washington, DC (But he grew up in Prince Georges County, Maryland, a town just east of Washington, DC.)

PRIMARY POSITION: Durant plays small forward, and hes one of the best in National Basketball Association (NBA) history at that position. Small forward is perhaps the most versatile position on the basketball court, and the small forward is often the best athlete on the team. Because of his height, coaches sometimes thought of Durant as more of a center or a power forward, since the tallest players usually play those positions. But Durant always preferred to play small forward so that he could do more things, like shoot jumpers farther away from the basket.

CURRENT TEAM: Brooklyn Nets (NBA)

FORMER PROFESSIONAL TEAMS: Seattle SuperSonics (200708), Oklahoma City Thunder (200816), Golden State Warriors (201619)

COLLEGE: University of Texas (200607). Kevin decided after his first year of college that he was ready to become a professional basketball player, so he declared himself eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft.

SHORT LIST OF BASKETBALL ACHIEVEMENTS: High School: McDonalds All American Game Co-MVP (2006). College: Consensus All-American (2007); Naismith Mens College Player of the Year (2007). Professional: Two-time NBA champion (2017 and 2018); two-time NBA Finals MVP (2017 and 2018); NBA Most Valuable Player (2014); four-time NBA scoring champion (201012, 2014); nine-time NBA All-Star (201018).

US MENS NATIONAL TEAM: Gold medal winner and MVP, 2010 International Basketball Federation (known as FIBA) World Championship; two-time Olympic gold medal winner (London 2012; Rio de Janeiro, 2016); 2010 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year; 2016 USA Basketball Male Athlete of the Year (tied with Carmelo Anthony).

GETTING TO THE NBA: On June 28, 2007, Kevin Durant was selected by the Seattle SuperSonics in the NBA Draft. The Portland Trail Blazers had the first pick in the draft and chose Greg Oden from Ohio State University. Durant was the second overall pick.

NICKNAME: Ever since he became a star player in the NBA, Durant has been known simply as KD. In 2013 a new nickname for Durant started making the rounds. Because of his slender build and the fact that his presence on the court was usually bad news for opponents, fans and broadcasters started calling him the Slim Reaper. Durant was not a fan of being associated with the grim reaper, also known as the angel of death. When a fan asked him about it on Twitter in early 2014, Durants reply was, I like KD better.

HIS MANTRA: Hard work beats talent when talent fails to work hard. Durant learned this at a young age, and hes never forgotten it. He is quick to correct people who think he was born with a God-given talent, and let them know that he never would have been such a good basketball player without putting in the hard work.

WHAT YOU REALLY NEED TO KNOW ABOUT HIM: Considering how skinny he is, it may come as a surprise to know that Durant eats a lot of candy. Im a big Now and Later guy. A Starburst guy, he once confessed. His friends say hes addicted to candy, but Durant doesnt see it as being very unusual. Doesnt everyone love candy?

Fifty-five secondsless than a minute. Thats how much time was left in Game 5 of the 2017 NBA Finals, and it was not enough time for the Cleveland Cavaliers to overtake the Golden State Warriors. There would be no miracle comeback this time. Not like the previous year, when Golden State had led Cleveland three games to one, only to see the Cavaliers win three straight games and capture the title.

This time Game 5 was out of reach for the Cavaliers, and it was clear that the Warriors were about to win their second NBA title in three seasons.

Fifty-five seconds, and it would all be over. But Kevin Durant couldnt wait. Overcome with emotion, he went to the half-court line, bent down on one knee, and said to himself, Is this really happening?

Thats when teammate Andre Iguodala came over to remind Durant that the game wasnt over yet. Get up! his teammate shouted. Keep playing til the end!

What is it that veteran players say about how to properly celebrate?

Act like youve been there before.

But Kevin Durant had not been there before. He hadnt been playing for the Warriors when theyd won the title in 2015. Sure, he had enough individual honors to fill an arena: Rookie of the Yearregular-season MVPall-star game MVPeight-time all-starfour-time NBA scoring championOlympic gold medalist.

But Kevin Durant had never been an NBA championuntil those final fifty-five seconds had ticked off the clock at the Oracle Arena in Oakland, California, wrapping up one of the most amazing and dominant playoff runs in NBA history. Before facing Cleveland in the finals, Golden State had swept through the playoffs without losing a single game.

The Warriors had opened the postseason with a first-round matchup against the Portland Trail Blazers. Four-game sweep. Then came the Utah Jazz. Four-game sweep. Surely things would get a little tougher when they faced the mighty San Antonio Spurs in the Western Conference Finals. Maybe, but the result was the same: four-game sweep.

Durant found himself in the NBA Finals for the second time in his career. Five years earlier, in 2012, hed helped the Oklahoma City Thunder reach the finals, only to lose in five games to the Miami Heat. That series marked the first NBA championship for another superstarLeBron James. It set off a chain of events that will forever link James and Durant.

That 2012 title was the first of three NBA championships for James. He won again with the Heat in 2013. The Heat was back in the finals a year later, but they lost to the Spurs. Before the 201415 season, James was a free agent. He shocked the NBA universe by returning to the Cleveland Cavaliers, the team hed played with for his first seven years in the league. He led the Cavaliers to the NBA Finals that season, only to lose to the Warriors. But when the Cavaliers and Warriors met again in the NBA Finals in 2016, James would not be denied.