Celtics GM Once Lost $30000 For Sitting With Kevin Durant’s Mom Wanda During The Big 12 Tournament

Cozying Up To Kevin Durant's Family, Celtics GM Lost $30000 For Sitting With Wanda Durant During The Big 12 Tournament 16 Years Ago

Ahead of the 2007 NBA Draft, Kevin Durant was the most talked about prospect along with Greg Oden for all NBA teams. Having the ‘Slim Reaper’ in any team could have coupled their chances for title contention. However, as per an ESPN report, teams such as the Boston Celtics went a step ahead to try excessively contact the Durant family. When Danny Ainge tried getting cozy with the Durants, the league responded by slapping a $30,000 fine on the Celtics.

That’s not just all. His Airness Michael Jordan and the Charlotte Hornets also faced a similar situation for discussing about Kevin Durant in an interview. All of these fiasco took place during the time when KD was participating in the 2007 Big 12 Basketball Championship.

It’s understandable as to why so many GMs were salivating at the prospect of being able to draft Durant. In his one season at the University of Texas, Durant averaged 25.8 points, 11.1 rebounds, and 1.3 assists, all while having 47.3% field goal percentage and 81.6% free throw percentage.

The tournament featured KD’s Texas Longhorns and Kansas Jayhawks in the Finals, only for the Longhorns to be overwhelmed 88-84 in the game. As expected, Durant outshone everyone in the tournament right as a freshman in college. He became the tournament MVP, breaking the previous Big 12 tournament scoring record of 79 by Marcus Fizer with his 92 points.

Kevin Durant won the Rookie of the Year significantly edging past Greg Oden

Kevin Durant had quite a decent season starting off as a rookie for the erstwhile Seattle SuperSonics. As a 19-year-old teenager, KD scored 18 points, grabbed five rebounds, and had three steals in his first regular season game against the Denver Nuggets. Furthermore, he also made his first game-winning shot against the Atlanta Hawks during his rookie season.

The Portland TrailBlazers #1 pick Greg Oden’s injury further propelled KD towards aiming for the Rookie of the Year award. Averaging 20.3 points, 4.4 rebounds, and 2.4 assists per game, Durant joined the likes of Carmelo Anthony and LeBron James to be the only teenagers in the annals of NBA to average 20 points throughout a season.

Post Edited By: Samir Mehdi
boston celtics Danny Ainge Greg Oden Kevin Durant

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Siddid Dey Purkayastha

Siddid Dey Purkayastha is an NBA Journalist at SportsRush, covering the sports for two years. He has always been a lover of sports and considers basketball as his favorite. While he has more than 600 articles under his belt, Siddid specializes in CoreSport pieces with on-point game analysis. He is an ardent fan of the Los Angeles Lakers, since Kobe Bryant's 80-point game made him a fan of the franchise. Apart from basketball, Siddid occasionally watches soccer and takes a fancy in following up with the Premier League in his free time.

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