Kevin Durant’s mother Wanda, aka The Real MVP, spoke publicly for the first time since her son’s devastating Achilles injury that became the talk of the NBA Finals earlier this week.
During a Wednesday appearance on Good Morning America, Wanda Durant gave an update on how the Golden State Warriors star is handling the injury and reacted to how Toronto Raptors fans treated her son.
“Emotionally, it’s a little tough for him,” she told host Robin Roberts. “Physically, of course, you all saw how he went down. He’s having a rough time right now, but with the love of our faith, our God and our family, we’re going to be OK.”
Despite missing the previous month with a calf injury, Durant was dominant and scored 11 points in just 12 minutes of playing time in Game 5 Monday before sustaining the injury.
He announced Wednesday afternoon that he underwent successful surgery to repair a ruptured Achilles tendon.
“I was excited because he was doing so well, and then when it happened, I just kind of sunk,” Wanda said. “I was just glued on him, and glued on his eyes to see how he was doing. It’s still kind of hurtful to see the anguish in his eyes. He looked as though he felt somewhat dejected at that time.
“He tried to hobble off and I was thinking, ‘Don’t do that, son, please.’ But then his teammates were there to help him.
“I talked with him probably about five to 10 minutes afterwards and he just told me not to cry. I know he worked so hard to get back in playing shape. He just told me he was going to be OK and don’t worry.”
Many Raptors fans inside and outside Scotiabank Arena cheered when Durant went down and only stopped when prompted by several players on the court, including Durant’s former Oklahoma City Thunder teammate Serge Ibaka, who Wanda said is like another son to her.
“At the time, I didn’t hear them. It was complete silence to me because I was just watching him,” she explained. “But when I heard about it I was really hurt. Kind of disappointed that that was the first [reaction] after something so horrific.”
The crowd eventually changed their tune and began chanting “KD! KD!” as the 2014 MVP and four-time scoring champion was helped to his team’s locker-room.
Wanda added that “all is forgiven” in regards to Raptors fans.
Ever since he joined the Warriors in 2016, Durant has been perhaps the most widely and unceremoniously criticized star in the NBA, so it’s not surprising the tweet below, posted by his mother Tuesday, went viral.
“The last few years there has been a lot of questions about who he is as a person, his heart for people, his love for his teammates, his love for the game,” she added on Wednesday. “It was really painstaking but because my son is an adult now and the NBA is his employer I chose not to respond. But after they questioned him about an injury, faking an injury, using an injury for his benefit, I felt that was really harsh because that compromised or talked about his character and his integrity and I know that’s not who my son is.
“So, I just wanted to let [the critics] know that I’ve been hearing all your words for the last few years. All the harsh, hurtful things that you’ve said about my son but you really don’t know who he is.
“But to the fans all over the world who have sent us their prayers and have contacted me over my social media, sent Kevin responses, I’m just so grateful.”
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