While Texas frosh phenom Kevin Durant extolls the virtues of Starburst and EA’s “Godfather” video game to the LA Times’ David Wharton, the 6’9″ forward tells the Memphis Commercial-Appeal’s Ron Higgins, “I’m not worried about the NBA.”
Becoming an instant millionaire will be hard to pass up. But Durant (above, right) said once his season concludes, he’ll listen hard to his parents’ advice.
Wanda Pratt, Durant’s mother who works for the postal service, raised Kevin from the time he was eight months old until he was 13 in Seat Pleasant, Md., just outside of Washington, D.C. Five years ago, she reunited with Kevin’s father, Wayne, who is a police officer at the Library of Congress.
Together, they have provided a solid support team for their son, even from long distance, after he decided to leave the D.C. area for the Lone Star state.
“We’re not going to put pressure on him,” Pratt said. “We lived pretty much the same way all of our lives. We want Kevin to keep his love of the game pure. We know he’ll get everything he wants if he keeps working hard. He’s always worked hard.”
His freshman year has been a blur, and now he says he’s going to place the decision of turning pro in the hands of his parents.
“Whatever they want me to do, I’m going to trust my parents enough they’ll make a great decision for me,” Durant said. “I’ll know when they know.”
Boston GM Danny Ainge was fined $30,000 by the NBA for “excessive contact” with members of Durant’s family during last weekend’s Big 12 tournament. Apparently, the Bobcats and Golden State were also penalized for having the temerity to admit that, hey, maybe they’d like to draft the guy if they had the opportunity.
Durant has scored 11 points at intermission, though he’s yet to draw a shooting foul, with Texas trailing USC, 34-27. The Trojans’ Daniel Hacket is winning the early battle of freshman point guards (10 points, 2 three pointers), while D.J. Augustin has missed all four of his field goal attempts.
The last time UNLV went this far, Richie Perry was getting ready for a big hot tub party back at his place.
The Fanhouse’s Michael David Smith has raised the spectre of Utah Attorney General / anti-polygamy crusader Mark Shurtleff prosecuting the Big Loving dad of Rebels F Joe Darger. I’m not so sure — if Larry Miller can’t bring charges of grand larceny against AK47, the Darger clan will probably be ok in this permissive part of the country.