USA TODAY International Edition
Mom bemoans acrimony in Durant’s emotional return to OKC
OKLAHOMA CITY For eight seasons, Wanda Pratt would sit in her regular courtside seat at Chesapeake Energy Arena.
Mothers of other Oklahoma City Thunder players would attend games, of course, but no one cornered the market on the matriarch role quite like Pratt, the woman who raised Kevin Durant from his days as a gangly kid from Seat Pleasant, Md., to an NBA superstar.
She had worked for years as a Postal Service mail handler to help pay the bills, as Durant’s father was gone for most of his childhood. She had seen Durant flourish at the University of Texas and follow the only NBA organization he knew from Seattle to the Sooner State.
She grew close with the players, coaches and people within the city limits. When Durant returned for the first time Saturday as a member of the Golden State Warriors after leaving in July, she had to reconcile this new reality.
Her baby, the younger of two sons whom she led out of that life in which Durant says they were “counted out,” was mercilessly booed during the Warriors’ 130114 win. The familiar courtside seat was gone. Pratt would spend the evening in a seat midway up the lower concourse, defending Durant’s honor while surrounded by Thunder fans who now despise him.
“I do understand that the fans here loved Kevin and they never thought that he would leave,” Pratt told USA TODAY Sports. “Unfortunately, he did leave, but he left a legacy here that’s undeniable. And so for the people to act the way that they did — and I understood the boos. OK, that’s kind of superficial, but the namecalling. …
“It’s the people who make it so personal and attack his character so viciously, like they know him — ( all) because he decided to play somewhere else. But then, the bold thing is they’re standing in my face. They’re bold enough to call him a snake and a coward. One guy even called him — I can’t even say it — the p- word. In my face.”
And yes, Pratt said, that guy knew she was Durant’s mother.
“I can’t respond to that, because no matter what I do, my actions are a reflection of my son, and I have to be mindful of that,” she said. “But for him to say that about my son ...”
As for those “cupcake” chants, that covert way of calling Durant soft in reference to Russell Westbrook’s infamous reaction to his co- star leaving? They left Pratt confused.
“Why would you say that?” she asked before listening to an explanation. “Yeah, that bothers me, just to hear that that’s what the cupcake thing is all about. Yeah, that bothers me. Kevin is not soft at all. He’s not soft. He made choices that he wanted to make.
“But I do get it. I don’t want to minimize the pain and the hurt that a lot of fans felt. They wanted him to stay, and so I understood that. For those people, my heart goes out to them. Some of those people still tell me that we still love him. I wanted him to stay, but I love him. No matter where he goes, I’ll love him because of the person that he was.”
As if the experience itself wasn’t enough for a mother to bear, Pratt hadn’t seen Durant since the holidays. She lives in the Washington, D. C., area, spending part of her time as a motivational speaker while writing memoirs and self- improvement books. There will be no diary about Saturday night’s events.
“I don’t need to journal it, because I know how I feel,” she said.
The Warriors, who struck all the right chords in their recruitment of Durant in free agency, were well aware of how emotionally challenging the evening would be for Pratt. So after the game, as she discussed the night’s events, she received a conference call from Warriors owner Joe Lacob and general manager Bob Myers. They simply wanted to know if she was OK.
“They knew it was tough,” she said.
Through it all, one thing remained unchanged: Durant’s family is more convinced than ever that Kevin made the right choice for him.
Asked why Durant didn’t want to play in Oklahoma City anymore, she said, “I can’t say, because ... this is a family still. I still look at Oklahoma City, the organization, the place here, I still look at it as part of my family — even though we’ve moved on.
“I wouldn’t want to do anything or say anything derogatory toward the organization, because I still care for them. But I think he felt his time was up. He gave it all he could, and it was time for him to move on.”