You knew it wasn’t going to be business as usual after Kevin Durant won his first MVP award earlier today, and he proved it with one of the more memorable and emotional MVP acceptance speeches of the modern era. Seriously, there wasn’t a dry eye in the house as KD thanked seemingly every person who had ever helped him on the way to this moment.
First, he was announced as the winner:
Then Durant thanked each one of his Thunder teammates with individual ancedotes and gratitude to all of them. The rookies, Caron Butler — who has only been with the team for a couple months, the veterans, and everyone in between. He periodically broke down crying and ending by telling Russell Westbrook with tears in his eyes, “I love you.”
He even thanked the Oklahoman for their Mr. Unreliable headline.
But it was his tribute to his mom, which opened the floodgates on our own tear ducts.
Ben Golliver at SI.com transcribed some of his amazing comments to teammates and family, so check those out, but we gotta get a kleenex.
(many thanks to Eye on Basketball’s Matt Moore for the videos)
What do you think?
Follow Spencer on Twitter at @SpencerTyrel.
Follow Dime on Twitter at @DimeMag.
Become a fan of Dime Magazine on Facebook HERE.
