Kevin Durant Early Life & Background:
American professional basketball player Kevin Durant was born on September 29, 1988, in Washington, D.C. In his 20s, he became one of the finest players of his generation and earned the NBA Most Valuable Player (MVP) Award in 2013–14. Durant is the most accomplished male basketball player in history, having won four gold medals in the Olympics (2012, 2016, 2020, and 2024) and two NBA titles with the Golden State Warriors (2017 and 2018).
Kevin Durant was a gifted basketball player from an early age. He was selected an All-American in his final year of high school, having already established himself as one of the best players in the Washington, D.C., area by the time he started high school. When he was a freshman at the University of Texas at Austin, he led the Big 12 Conference in blocking shots (67), rebounding (11.1 rebounds per game), and scoring average (25.8 points per game).
In addition to becoming a first-team All-American, he was the first freshman to win the National College Player of the Year award by consensus. He entered the NBA draft after just one season, and the Seattle SuperSonics selected him second overall in the 2007 NBA Draft.
Kevin Durant was the only bright spot on the Seattle team during his first campaign. Many supporters were put at a remove when the city refused to finance the new ownership’s demands for a publicly subsidized arena at the time, threatening to relocate. Durant won the NBA Rookie of the Year Award by a wide margin and averaged 20.3 points per game in spite of the chaos. His explosive play, nevertheless, was unable to mend the division between the city and the squad. Following the season, the team relocated to Oklahoma City and rebranded as the Oklahoma City Thunder.
Kevin Durant was not slowed down by the relocation. He increased his statistics in assists, steals, scoring, and rebounding in his sophomore campaign. He led the Thunder to their first-ever postseason participation in Oklahoma City during the 2009–10 season, starting a run of five straight All-Star Game appearances and earning first-team All-NBA accolades. Durant’s 28.5 points per game during the postseason helped the Thunder make it to the NBA Finals in 2011–12, but they were defeated by the Miami Heat in five games.
At 6 feet 11 inches (2.11 meters) tall, Durant was an intimidating opponent. In addition to outrunning and shooting over slower post defenders, he could also overwhelm smaller guards. Beginning in 2009–10, he finished first in the NBA in scoring average four times (ending second in 2012–13) and led the league in total points for five consecutive seasons. He averaged a career-high 32 points, 5.5 assists, and 7.4 rebounds per game during his stellar 2013–14 MVP campaign.
A broken right foot limited him to only 27 appearances in the next season. In 2015–16, he was back to his peak, averaging 28.2 points and a career-high 8.2 rebounds per game. In the Western Conference Finals, Durant led the Thunder to a 3-1 series lead over the Warriors, who set a new record, but Oklahoma City lost the series in seven games. The basketball community was taken aback when Durant left the Thunder and signed a free agent contract with the Warriors that offseason.
Kevin Durant flourished in 2016–17 while playing on the best squad of his career. He helped the Warriors win a league-high 67 games while averaging 25.1 points per game. Golden State then set an NBA record by winning 12 straight games to begin the playoffs. With just one loss against the Cleveland Cavaliers en route to the championship, the team’s supremacy persisted in the Finals. Durant won Finals MVP after averaging 35.2 points per game during the Finals.
He averaged 26.4 points and a career-high 1.8 blocks per game in the 2017–18 regular season. He led the Warriors over the Cavaliers to win another NBA championship with another outstanding postseason performance. Durant won the Finals MVP Award for the second consecutive year with an average of 28.7 points per game.
Kevin Durant earned his tenth consecutive All-Star selection after having an outstanding 2018–19 regular season in which he averaged 26 points per game. He strained his calf during the Western Conference semifinals, but the Warriors made it to the NBA Finals without him. Durant made a comeback in Game 5 of the series, trailing the Toronto Raptors 3-1. He did, however, worsen the injury and tear his Achilles tendon in the same leg during the second quarter of his comeback game. He missed over a full year due to the injury, and the Warriors ultimately lost the Finals in six games.
Kevin Durant joined the Brooklyn Nets in the 2019 offseason, but he didn’t play until the beginning of the COVID-19-shortened 2020–21 season. James Harden joined Kyrie Irving in a star-studded lineup shortly after the team acquired him. Many people thought Brooklyn will win several titles. Durant helped the Nets finish as the No. 2 seed in the Eastern Conference in 2021, despite missing almost 20 games because of a hamstring injury. They lost to the Milwaukee Bucks, the eventual champions, despite making it to the conference semifinals.
The NBA punished Durant in 2021 after he and actor Michael Rapaport got into a social media argument. Irving, meantime, was involved in a number of his own scandals. Kevin Durant was traded to the Phoenix Suns in the middle of the 2022–2023 season, where he joined shooting guard Devin Booker.
Kevin Durant only played in eight regular-season games in Phoenix following the trade due to injuries, but he averaged 29 points per game in the playoffs and helped the Suns advance to the second round, where the Denver Nuggets, the ultimate champions, defeated them. He continued to be a dependable and extremely effective scoring source in his first full season with the Suns.
He surpassed NBA greats Shaquille O’Neal and Carmelo Anthony to finish the season seventh with 28,924 career points, climbing the league’s all-time scoring list. The Suns’ playoff heartbreak persisted, though, as they lost to the Minnesota Timberwolves 4–0 in the opening round. Kevin Durant was dealt to the Houston Rockets in the offseason in 2025 after the Suns failed to make the playoffs.
In addition to his NBA career, Kevin Durant has been a vital part of the U.S. men’s national basketball team, which has won gold at the Olympic Games in London in 2012, Rio in 2016, Tokyo in 2020 (in 2021), and Paris in 2024. He became the only male basketball player to win four Olympic gold medals and overtook Lisa Leslie as the highest-scoring American in Olympic history during the Paris Games.