Wanda Durant on her son Kevin’s NBA win: ‘I felt fulfilled as a mom’

ABC News(NEW YORK) — After Golden State Warriors star Kevin Durant helped his team clinch the NBA championship, his mother, Wanda Durant, celebrated alongside the team in what truly was a lifelong dream come true.

“I felt fulfilled as a mom,” Durant said Monday on ABC News’ Good Morning America about the winning moment. “When he gave the speech and he talked about me in the speech … I felt like he got, he understood why I was the type of mother that I was — sometimes a little psychotic. But at that moment I felt like I was fulfilled as a parent because it was like all that hard work really paid off.”

Durant, a single mother, said she did her best to stay engaged as a parent and demand the best from her two sons.

“On the court I was very demanding in practice and workouts. The coach would say ‘Kevin do 25 push-ups,’ and I would come in with my flippin attitude and say ‘do 250,'” Durant said. “I just taught him how to go beyond what was required and dig deeper.”

When Kevin Durant was named league MVP in 2014, he delivered an emotional speech dedicated to his mother.

“We wasn’t supposed to be here. You made us believe. You kept us off the street. You put clothes on our backs, food on the table. When you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You the real MVP,” he said.

For all the young moms and single parents going through difficult times, Wanda Durant stressed the importance of being involved.

“I was determined early on as a young mother that I was going to be present with my children, I was going to be engaged,” she said. “It didn’t matter what I had to sacrifice for their success, I knew I wanted different for them. I wanted them to live their dream. I wanted them to set a goal for themselves and not just live life as a survivor, but a thriver.”

She added, “Being engaged with your children helps you identify characteristics for certain professions or hobbies or interests. It just happened to be basketball for us. But just being able to identify the artistic characteristics in your child, the academic prowess and the athletic ability if you’re there and present.”

And she admitted that raising her two sons had its challenges.

“There were several times I wanted to quit, but the look in their eyes was what kept me going … no matter how hard it was I just couldn’t be a quitter for them,” she said.

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