Kevin Durant showed that he deserved the NBA MVP Award not only as a player but also as a person.
Durant received 119 out of 125 first-place votes for MVP to take the title from LeBron James, who has won the award in four of the last five previous seasons. Following the announcement of the results Tuesday, Durant gave an emotional speech thanking everyone who helped reach the MVP podium.
The Oklahoma City Thunder star thanked each one of his teammates individually, getting choked up a few times along the way. But the real emotions came through when he talked about his mother, Wanda Pratt, who raised Durant and his brother on her own as a young woman.
“You made us believe. You kept us off the street,” Durant told his mother during the speech. “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. You’re the real MVP.”
Check out Durant’s speech, as well as his tribute to his mother, in the videos below.
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6s0PJAA2UWw%5D
[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=HuNEdiMkIgA%5D
Photo via Twitter/@BleacherReport
