Kevin Durant

Phoenix Suns

Kevin Durant has been an NBA superstar almost since the moment he was drafted by the Seattle SuperSonics in 2007. After scoring a little more than 20 points a game and winning the league’s Rookie of the Year award, he moved with the franchise to Oklahoma City the following year and never averaged less than 25 in each of the next eight seasons. He won three scoring titles with the Thunder and led them to the NBA Finals in 2012. He signed as a free agent with the Golden State Warriors in 2016 and — playing in a lineup that included Stephen Curry — promptly won two straight championships, in 2017 and 2018. He suffered an Achilles injury in the 2019 Finals, though, and it forced him to sit out the entire 2019–20 season. While Durant was convalescing, the Warriors traded him to the Brooklyn Nets on July 7, 2019. A 12-time All-Star, he was named to the NBA’s 75th Anniversary Team in October 2021. Durant always seemed destined for stardom. He is unique among 7-footers in that he can put the ball on the floor or shoot from beyond the three-point arc. He was the second player taken in the 2007 NBA draft after playing just one season of at Texas. He earned All-America honors for the Longhorns, averaging nearly 26 points and more than 11 rebounds a game. He also became the first freshman to be named the national player of the year. He led Texas to a 25–10 record and a spot in the second round of the NCAA tournament. Durant had been heavily recruited out of Montrose Christian School in Rockville, Md. Durant had grown up in Prince George’s County, just outside Washington, D.C., and he was raised as a young child by his mother and his grandmother. He attended his first two years of high school at nearby National Christian Academy before transferring to prep powerhouse Oak Hill Academy (Mouth of Wilson, Va.) as a junior. He returned to his home state for his senior season. International play is another part of Durant’s shining legacy. As a member of the U.S. men’s basketball team he has won three Olympic gold medals (2012, 2016 and 2020), as well as the 2010 FIBA world championship. He is also the leading scorer in the history of USA Basketball.