Kevin Durant Named MVP, Gets Emotional During Acceptance Speech

Tuesday, May 6th 2014, 1:03 am

By: News 9

The reports have been circulating for days but now it's official: Kevin Durant is the NBA's Most Valuable Player for the 2013-14 season.

It marks the first MVP award for the five-time All-Star, ending a two-year run for Miami's LeBron James.

RELATED STORY: Durant't MVP Speech Proves Humility & Greatness Aren't Mutually Exclusive



In a heartfelt ceremony Kevin Durant accepted the National Basketball Association's Most Valuable Player award. During his speech Durant became very emotional while talking about his teammates, giving us a look behind the locker room door. He mentioned them all and talked about how each one of them has done something special to keep him motivated.

When Durant began talking about his family you could feel the love he had for them. He talked about growing up and how it was hard, but his mother took care of him and his brother. He finished by calling his mother the "real MVP".

Durant averaged career-highs with 32 points and 5.5 assists per game to go with 7.4 rebounds per outing. He shot 50.3 percent from the field, 39.1 percent from 3 and 87.3 percent from the foul line.

But perhaps even more impressive than the numbers was that he guided Oklahoma City to the second-best record in the NBA despite a flurry of injuries hampering the team throughout the year, namely the absence of fellow All-Star Russell Westbrook for long stretches.

Even with all the added pressure on his shoulders and attention from defenses, Durant still managed to lead the league in player efficiency with a 29.8 PER.

KD won the scoring title for a third time and became the first player since Allen Iverson in 2000-01 to win the scoring title and MVP in the same season.

Durant totaled 1,232 points, including 119 first-place votes, from a panel of 124 voters that consisted of sportswriters and broadcasters throughout the United States and Canada as well as an NBA.com MVP fan vote.

The Thunder lost Game 1 of its Western Conference semifinal matchup against the Clippers 122-105 on Monday night. Game 2 is scheduled for Wednesday at 8:30 at Chesapeake Energy Arena.

Watch the MVP Press Conference today at 3:30 p.m. on News 9 or live streamed on News9.com.