Durant was born in Washington, D.C., and raised in Seat Pleasant, Maryland, part of Prince George’s County. He was largely raised by his mother, Wanda Durant, and grandmother, Barbara Davis, after his father was largely absent for much of his early childhood, a period his father later returned for during Durant’s teenage years. Durant has frequently and publicly credited his mother’s sacrifices for his success, most notably during his emotional 2014 NBA MVP acceptance speech, and the relationship was later chronicled in the documentary “The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story.” He developed his game on the playgrounds and rec centers of the D.C. area before starring at Montrose Christian School and later the University of Texas, where he was named national college player of the year as a freshman.

Durant was selected second overall in the 2007 NBA Draft by the Seattle SuperSonics, who relocated to become the Oklahoma City Thunder the following year. He won Rookie of the Year and quickly developed into one of the league’s most efficient scorers, winning his first scoring title at age 21. He led the Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals and won the league MVP award in 2014. His decision to leave Oklahoma City for the Golden State Warriors in 2016 free agency was one of the most debated player moves in NBA history, and it paid off competitively: Durant won back-to-back championships and Finals MVP awards with the Warriors in 2017 and 2018.

Photo: Cyrus Saatsaz via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY-SA 4.0)

After suffering a torn Achilles tendon during the 2019 NBA Finals, Durant signed as a free agent with the Brooklyn Nets, sitting out the entire 2019-20 season to recover before returning to elite form. He was traded to the Phoenix Suns in February 2023 in a blockbuster mid-season deal, and continued to be one of the league’s most consistent scorers into his late 30s. In the summer of 2025, Durant was traded again, this time to the Houston Rockets, continuing a career that has spanned five franchises. Internationally, Durant has represented the United States at multiple Olympic Games, winning gold medals with Team USA and becoming the program’s all-time leading scorer in Olympic competition.

Sports-finance outlets including Forbes and Sportico have regularly placed Durant’s combined annual earnings — salary plus endorsements — among the top handful of NBA players, typically in the $60-90 million range in recent seasons once his NBA salary, Nike deal, and other sponsorships are combined. Over the course of his career, his cumulative NBA salary alone is reported to exceed $500 million, among the highest career on-court earnings totals of any player in league history.

Durant has signed a series of maximum-value NBA contracts throughout his career, including extensions with the Thunder, Warriors, Nets, and Suns. His two-year, roughly $47 million contract extension signed with the Suns in 2023 and subsequent deals have kept his annual NBA salary among the league’s highest even into his late 30s, a rarity for a player at that career stage. Combined with luxury-tax-driven team spending across the high-payroll franchises he has played for, Durant’s salary history places him consistently among the NBA’s top earners on a year-by-year basis.

Durant has had a signature shoe deal with Nike since entering the league in 2007, with the “KD” line becoming one of the more commercially successful athlete signature franchises; his Nike contract, extended in 2014, was reported by sports-business outlets to be worth roughly $300 million over the life of the deal. Beyond Nike, Durant has held endorsement partnerships over the years with companies including Sprite, Foot Locker, Beats by Dre, Google, and 2K Sports, reflecting a broad commercial appeal that extends well beyond basketball audiences.

Durant is widely regarded as one of the more savvy athlete-investors in professional sports. Along with business partner Rich Kleiman, he co-founded Thirty Five Ventures, a media and investment company that has produced documentaries and content while also making early-stage investments in companies including Coinbase, Postmates, Acorns, and other startups well before some went public, several of which produced significant returns. Durant also holds an ownership stake in Major League Soccer’s Philadelphia Union, part of a broader trend of NBA stars diversifying into sports team ownership.

Durant has owned residential property in the various cities where he has played, including reported homes in the Bay Area during his Warriors tenure and in the New York area while with the Nets. He has generally kept a relatively low public profile regarding his personal real estate holdings compared to some peers, focusing public attention instead on his business ventures through Thirty Five Ventures rather than displays of personal luxury assets.

Photo: Tim Shelby from Arlington, VA, US via Wikimedia Commons (CC BY 2.0)