From childhood, his mother Wanda Pratt repeatedly told him, "You don't deserve what you have, you just happen to be the lucky one." You have to accept those responsibilities and be humble." The flip side of humility in Kevin's upbringing, however, was never giving in.

As a night shift worker at the Suitland Post Office in Maryland, Wanda spends her days trudging huge parcels of mail her own weight from the warehouse onto the truck. His father, Wayne, was a patrolman at a Washington, D.C. medical center. In order to keep her children out of trouble on the streets, Wanda has to send Kevin and his brother Tony to the Seat Pleasant community Center near their home.

There, 8-year-old Kevin touched a basketball for the first time. Charles Craig, the stocky coach nicknamed "Chuck" by the kids, began to teach the big-boned but frail Durant to dribble, shake and hook.

A few months later, when Kevin, wearing No. 24, scored 25 points in an under-9 division game, a woman attending the game excitedly suggested that the kid change his jersey number to 23, and soon Durant had the idea of entering the NBA: "One year, all the kids in the community center were watching the NBA draft, and I said to Chuck, 'Someday, I'm going to show him up in the green room.'"

Fortunately, the person who would eventually steer him in the right direction on the road to the NBA soon came along. At the Seat Pleasant Community Center, Amateur Athletic Association AAU basketball coach Taras Brown caught him in the eye. "When we first met, he told me that if I wanted to play in the NBA, I had to follow his guidance." Durant told us that after Kevin entered middle school, Brown personally drove him every day, ate lunch together, and watched NBA television.

Upon joining Brown's AAU team, the Panthers, Tallas immediately instituted a tedious and rigorous training regimen and rules for him: no one-on-one bullfights and street games, and strenuous daily skating, passing, shooting and defensive drills. In addition, Kevin is often given some bizarre homework, such as running 100 laps around the court before the game, 500 extra push-ups after practice, copying the six steps of the jump shot on paper 500 times, holding the shooting position, holding the basketball high for an hour before shooting.

There were times when Durant seemed to tire of Brown's rigor, put down his basketball and ran out, but within an hour he would silently return to the gym and pick up where he left off.

"To this day, we are in touch every day, on the phone, he has played an irreplaceable role in my life, Tallas is not only my mentor on the pitch, but also my spiritual mentor, always using criticism to push me to improve." Durant told us that this summer, Brown still offered a series of suggestions to improve himself: "He told me that I had to have more ways to score when the opponent already knew my game and rhythm." I'm working hard on my fadeaway shot, all kinds of new shots at the rim and back, muscles, flexibility and coordination, and I have to work on myself in practice if I don't want to get fixed on the court."

In 10th grade, Durant reached a height of 2.05 meters, he had a clear idol, and began to imitate the breakthrough of Antoine Walker and Tracy McGrady's step-back three-pointer. The scrawny, tall boy continued to grow, hitting a staggering size 11, and Wanda, who had to live within her means, had to buy her son used shoes from mail-order catalogs, such as those worn by WNBA Los Angeles Sparks star Lisa Leslie or Shelley Swoopes.

When Durant announced his participation in the NBA draft in early 2007, he immediately became the object of contention between Nike and Adidas, but Durant told his agent Alon Goodwin that the first condition for signing is not the amount of endorsement or contract years, but to ensure that his signature shoes are cheap - must be in the range of $39 to $69.

"I came from a place where I and all the kids around me couldn't afford more than $100 for a pair of sneakers." Durant told us, "A pair of airJordans in my childhood, is an illusory dream. My first pair of new Nikes was a prize from a competition, and while the KD3 is a bit more expensive than the previous two, it's still only $88, which should put it within the reach of every mother like my mom."

However, on the early morning of May 1, 2005, Kevin's life was abruptly cut short when Chuck was shot and killed by a mob in the street after standing up for a friend in a street fight the day before. From that day on, Durant never wore the number 24 that Chuck had given him, and changed the number to 35 - Chuck's age when he was killed.

In that summer, Durant became more aggressive on the court, he even began to talk trash to stimulate opponents, only to shoot their own shots, but this did not prevent him from spending his final year in the famous Oak Hill High School, and successfully entered the NCAA (American College Athletic Association) of the elite university of Texas. As a freshman, he averaged 25.8 points per game and eventually won the NCAA Player of the Year award.

In 2007, with the title of "the strongest NCAA 'freshman' player in history" Durant chose to enter the NBA early, the 19-year-old big boy immediately experienced the cruelty of professional sports league: In the rookie test, he was the only one who failed to complete the 185-pound (84 kg) bench press test, and others called Durant a variety of jokes, from "Hungry Marvin" to "Pod".

In response, he angrily stamped the number 185 on his sneakers. Then, on draft day, Kevin suffered another setback: The Portland Trail Blazers used their No. 1 pick to select Greg Oden, and he was forced to abandon the hope of joining Brandon Roy to build a title contender and head to distant, little-known Seattle.

This is a team that is waiting for him, but there is a lot of trouble and upheaval, in order to rebuild the team based on Kevin, two core players Rashad Lewis and Ray Allen were sent to Boston and Orlando, respectively, and rumors about the team's imminent relocation to Oklahoma City are flying. Coach Carressimo gave him a simple task: "shoot - score - shoot more baskets" in his rookie year, Durant used 1,366 shots in exchange for 20.3 points per game and a rookie of the year trophy, but shooting only an embarrassing 43.3%, the Sonics' record is a miserable 20-62.

Such moves have become rare in an era when young stars are desperate for a ring. "I'm not saying I'm not looking forward to playing for another team, playing in a big city and making my own big scene, but I'm happy with the city and the team." Durant told us. Trusting his teammates and those around him is one of the hallmarks of being a great athlete, and Durant has learned this faster than other great players like Michael Jordan or Kobe Bryant.

In 10 playoff games, his teammate Russell Westbrook has taken 209 shots, eight more than Durant. Finally, in the third game against the Mavericks, Westbrook was "frozen" on the bench by coach Brooks in the entire fourth quarter, and some media broke the news that there was an irreconcilable contradiction between Kevin and Russell because of the distribution of ball rights, but Durant obviously did not see it this way.

"Russell is a genius and has an incredible amount of responsibility. He had never played point guard before he came to the NBA, but suddenly having to run a team is hard." Durant told us, "All the starters didn't play well in that game, but Menor and the rest of the bench did well and turned the tide, so I support Brooks' decision that in order to maintain the right pace of play, it was necessary to bench certain people, including myself."

For the most part, Russell and I agree, but sometimes we disagree and even fight, both in games and in practice. I have to say it's a necessary healthy competition that drives the whole team to get better."

It's clear that the skinny boy who became the youngest-ever scoring champion at the age of 22 is becoming the NBA's next marquee character with his own unique charm. He hugged his mother before the opening jump ball, donated $100,000 to earthquake-hit Haiti and single-handedly pulled his club back from the brink of loss.

Still, he seemed unfamiliar to many fans. Durant told us this story: In Istanbul in the summer of 2010, a fan wearing a Team USA jersey greeted him warmly, "Kevin, you are Kevin Garnett?" In response to the slightly embarrassing misunderstanding, Durant replied, "I'm sorry, I'm Kevin, but I'm not K.G."

No doubt, with a little time, I believe few fans will be able to make similar mistakes again.