A little more than 10 years ago, after winning the 2013-14 KIA MVP award, Kevin Durant delivered an iconic speech thanking his mom, Wanda. “You are the real MVP,” he said, after sharing all the sacrifices she made to secure a better future for him. Since then, Wanda has gained an almost mythic status among NBA fans, and Durant… well, he has spun a few yarns because of it.
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Durant, who is far more active on social media than most of his peers, has often talked about how tough life was for his family growing up. But the common theme in all those stories is always Wanda stepping up to the plate and instilling a fighting spirit in KD and his siblings.
And once KD told her about his dreams of playing in the NBA, Wanda made a special effort to prepare him for it. This included making Durant train really hard at a very early age. Maybe a little too hard.
“Look, I told her I wanted to be in the NBA. So, she just put in overdrive. If I had to do a 100 pushups, she would come out of nowhere, give me 200 pushups,” Durant revealed on Bobbi Althoff’s podcast.
Durant claims that at the time, all that discipline would annoy him and he would run his mouth, only for his mother to slap the taste out of it. From the looks of it, getting slapped by his mom was a recurring theme during Durant’s childhood.
“I am talking too much in class, she would come to school, slap the s*** out of me in front of the class. S*** like that, she would just p*** me off with,” he added, noting that he began to appreciate what she did as he grew older.
Now, all of this is really endearing, and millennials can probably relate more than Gen Z or Gen X. But there’s a little problem with that story. Fans on Twitter aren’t particularly buying the 200 pushups claim.
“Ain’t know mf way Kevin Durant said his mom made him do 200 pushups at the age of 8. He would be on number 87 right now. Wild lie!” one Twitter user penned.
Another responded with, “But be for real tho, did your mom say you should do 200 pushups at age 8?”
Durant’s ‘noodle arms’, as fans have pointed out, were also used as proof that the Rockets star never did that many pushups as a kid.
Now, most NBA stars, let alone legends, would ignore becoming a part of this type of conversation. but not Durant. Always online, he actually logged in to respond in the most Durant way possible:
Aye Im really sick and tied of yall mfers. https://t.co/9iBxFkNj3P
— Kevin Durant (@KDTrey5) November 2, 2025
Well, LeBron James has been called out for lying about bizarre things, too. Besides, everyone has exaggerated about childhood struggles, and none of them have over 30000 points to their name!






