While the NBA season stands suspended and the race for the Most Valuable Player between Lebron James and Giannis Antetokounmpo is also on a standstill, we’re reminded of an MVP six years ago. Kevin Durant and his moving speech gives us the wholesome content that everyone needs in these tough times.

Kevin Durant’s MVP speech for the crowd

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Brooklyn Nets’ Kevin Durant was with the Oklahoma City Thunder when he won the MVP award. He gave his speech on May 13, 2014. In a very memorable, expansive and most likely exhaustive acceptance speech, Durant all but laid out his life story.  Thunder’s forward saluted teammates, coaches, the owner, and family members.

Durant started off the speech by letting everyone know that unlike his usual self, he was a little nervous. He thanked God for letting him use basketball as a medium to inspire people. Then, he revealed that he wanted to become a rec league coach as he never thought he would never make it to college.

A seemingly humbled Durant explained that he had a lot of help along the way, from his family, people who believed him and those who didn’t as well.

Durant explained that he did not fall in love with the game because it was him playing, rather, he fell in love with it because “I’ve got guys like this — like these guys every single day that push me to be the best that I can be.”

Around 26-years-old at that time, Durant gave a special mention to his friend and colleague Russel Westbrook.

“I could speak all night about Russell,” Durant said. He mentioned how he will always have Westbrook’s back no matter what and asked him to stay the way he was. He ended this emotional mention with a ton of gratefulness.

“You make me better. I always wanted to outwork you. You set the bar. You set the tone. Thank you so much, man. Thank you. You have a big piece of this. You’re an MVP-caliber player. It’s a blessing to play with you, man. “

Durant thanks family in wholesome mentions

Durant thanked the support staff, the fans of OkC and many of his friends by name. Finally, he came towards his family.

He thanked his brother Tony for beating him up when they were younger and helping him believe in himself. He also thanked his younger brother Rayvonne that seems to have made him work harder so he could be a better role model.

Even though they had a rocky past, Durant did not forget to mention his father, Wayne Pratt, who walked out on the family when KD was just a year old.

“You’ve always been there supporting from afar, texting me Bible verses every single day, telling me you love me every single day. That builds me up and I thank you so much. I love you. I’m just glad you’re part of this journey with us.”

Lastly, the Marylander gave a very wholesome tribute to his mother, Wanda Durant. He revealed how his mother had two sons to take care of alone, by the time she was just 21 years old. Even though it was difficult for the family as they had to keep moving, Durant mentioned one of his best memories.

“One of the best memories I had was when we moved into our first apartment, no bed, no furniture and we just sat in the living room and just hugged each other. We thought we made it.”

Durant also described how his mother kept him fit by waking him up in the middle of the night in summertime and make him run up hills and do pushups. Then Durant said those few words about his mother that left the crowd completely in tears.

“We wasn’t supposed to be here. You made us believe. You kept us off the street.” 

He continued, “You put clothes on our backs, food on the table. When you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us.  He ended his tribute by a very impactful, “You the real MVP.”

Why Kevin Durant won MVP

Kevin Durant bagged the award, earning 119 of the 125 first-place votes in 2014. LeBron James came in second place. He receiving the other six first-place votes and 118 second-place votes

Blake Griffin finished in third. Joakim Noah and James Harden rounded out the top five in the MVP voting.

Durant finished the NBA’s regular season with averages of 32 points, 5.5 assists and 7.4 rebounds per game. He became the fourth player in NBA history to average 32 points, five assists and seven rebounds in a season. The last one was Michael Jordan in 1988-89.

The Thunder star forward shot 50.3 percent overall and 39.1 percent from the three-point range. It amounted to a 63.5 true shooting percentage, an elite number for a volume shooter. Out of rotation players that averaged 15 or more minutes per game, Durant’s true shooting percentage ranked 7th in the NBA.

Probably the most impressive portion of Durant’s season came out during the Thunder’s stretch without point guard Russell Westbrook. That was the duration from late December to mid-February.

Over the course of 27 games, Durant recorded a true shooting percentage of 64.9 while averaging 34.9 points per game. From January 7 to April 8, Durant scored at least 25 points in 41 straight games It was the NBA’s third-longest such streak. Durant scored 40-plus points 14 times that season. Moreover, no one else did it more than six times.