Kevin Wayne Durant (born September 29, 1988 in Washington, D.C.) is an American professional basketball player for the Oklahoma City Thunder of the NBA.
Durant opted to enter the NBA Draft, where he was selected second overall by the Seattle SuperSonics. There he went on to win the NBA Rookie of the Year Award after his debut season. In 2007, Durant signed an endorsement contract with Nike.
A basketball player from his earliest days, Durant played for a successful Amateur Athletic Union (AAU) youth basketball team, the PG Jaguars. The Jaguars won multiple national championships with Durant and fellow future blue chip recruits Michael Beasley (Miami Heat) and Chris Braswell (Georgetown). Durant wore, and continues to wear, the #35 jersey in honor of his childhood mentor and AAU coach, Charles Craig, who was murdered at age 35.
Durant later moved on to play AAU basketball with fellow McDonald's All American Tywon Lawson (North Carolina) for the DC Blue Devils. After spending two years at National Christian Academy (MD), and one year at Oak Hill Academy (VA), Durant starred for the Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Maryland during his senior year. At Montrose, Durant led the team in scoring and was named the Washington Post All Met Basketball Player of the Year. Durant also played with current Maryland point guard Greivis Vasquez while at Montrose. Vetter described Durant as a hard working player, complete with size, shooting skills and ball handling skills.
Durant also was named a McDonald's All American and named co-MVP of the 2006 McDonald's All American game along with Chase Budinger. Behind Greg Oden, Durant was widely regarded as the second-best high school prospect.
Durant declared himself eligible for the 2007 NBA Draft on April 11, 2007 and signed his first professional contract on May 25 with the Upper Deck Company, who later heralded Durant to be the focus of their 2007–08 NBA trading card line. On June 28, 2007, Durant was taken second overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics. It was expected that either he or Greg Oden, the starting center for Ohio State at the time, were to go Number 1 in the draft, but Oden was taken ahead of Durant when it actually happened. In the proceeding month, Durant went on to sign a seven-year, $60 million endorsement deal with Nike—a rookie deal only surpassed by LeBron James contract with Nike. In doing so, Durant reportedly turned down a potential $70 million contract with Adidas, opting for Nike since he had worn them all his life.
On April 30, 2008, Associated Press reported that Durant was awarded the NBA Rookie of the Year Award for the 2007–08 season
The next day, Durant came from behind to win the first ever H-O-R-S-E Competition in NBA All-Star weekend history, beating out Joe Johnson from the Atlanta Hawks and O. J. Mayo from the Memphis Grizzlies after getting four quick letters early in the game.
#35
Homepage
Brandon Roy
Rodney Stuckey
Allen Iverson
A 6'9" small forward, Durant was the consensus 2007 National College Player of the Year, in addition to being selected as the 2006–2007 Big 12 Player of the Year, amongst other awards. After his freshman season at the University of Texas.
On February 13, 2009, Durant led the Sophomore team to a 122–116 victory over the Rookie side at the T-Mobile Rookie Challenge & Youth Jam. He was crowned the MVP for the game after he set the scoring record with 46 points, breaking the old mark set in 2004 when Suns F-C Amar'e Stoudemire had 36 for the sophomores.
Career
G
GS
MPG
FG%
3P%
FT%
OFF
DEF
RPG
APG
SPG
BPG
TO
PF
PPG
198
198
37.4
0.46
0.36
0.87
1.0
4.8
5.8
2.7
1.2
0.8
3.2
2.8
24.2
