Kevin Durant and his brother, Tony Durant, were raised together in austere conditions by their single mother, Wanda Durant. Tony Durant played college basketball for a time and appears to be close to his NBA basketball star brother.
Durant has a grandmother named Barbara Davis and three siblings overall: Brothers Tony Durant and Rayvonne Pratt and sister Brianna Pratt. Tony Durant is three years older than Kevin. Tony attended Suitland High School in Forestville, Maryland and St. John’s Military School in Salina, Kansas. Tony Durant has an Instagram page where he posts photos with his family, as does the brothers’ mother, Wanda Durant.
Here’s what you need to know:
1. Wanda Durant Raised Kevin & His Brother, Tony Durant, as a Single Mother
The Durant story is well-known, and Wanda Durant has not been shy about telling how she raised Kevin Durant and his brother, Tony, as a single mother. On Instagram, Tony wrote, “Happy Mother’s Day to my dawg!!!!!! I love you beautiful enjoy your day.” He shared another photo of his mom on Instagram, and wrote, “Just fabulous I love you again man I can’t tell you enough. She like the young girl pics by herself. She FAKKKKKKIN GOOOOOOOD!!!!! @therealmamadurant.”
She worked overnights at the post office when her sons were growing up. “There were many nights that I didn’t know how we were going to make it,” Wanda Durant told CBS News of those times.
Kevin Durant referenced his hard-scrabble upbringing and his mother’s sacrifices when he accepted the MVP award, saying, according to CBS, “When you didn’t eat, you made sure we ate. You went to sleep hungry. You sacrificed for us. You the real MVP.”
“I couldn’t quit, and there were times I wanted to quit, and I often said the sacrifice for me was not dying, that’s what I sacrificed for my kids, not checking out on them,” Wanda Durant told CBS.
The brothers’ father, Wayne Pratt, left their lives when he was 23. “I felt like I was immature, selfish, I was young. I didn’t know what I was getting myself into,” he told The Washington Post. However, the Post story says that Wayne returned to the family and married Wanda, at which time the youngest siblings were born.
2. Tony Durant Admitted That He & His Brother Fight Sometimes
Tony Durant said in an interview, which you can watch above, that “me and my brother fight. Don’t talk awhile. It happens like that sometimes.”
In an interview with TripleMcDouble, Tony described the brothers’ childhood, saying, “I grew up in Prince George’s County [Maryland]. Basketball is huge there. When I was a kid, my mom started taking my brother and I to the local rec center and that’s where we first developed a love for basketball.”
He told the site that he realized his brother was going to be a great player when he was 12 or 13. Kevin Durant mentioned Tony during his MVP acceptance speech, saying, “You’ve taught me to feel confident in myself, believe in myself; that I could do it when I didn’t think I could do it.”
Tony Durant expressed support for Barack Obama on Instagram, writing, “They said it was impossible now the possible has become the LEGEND pardon his back! Best POTUS in history. When you measure a man you better measure him by his standard his mind frame and his overall body of legitimate work! Instead of throwing them ?’s up look at how REAL “real men” handle themselves!!! Salute to a REAL EXAMPLE to how us as men are supposed handle ourselves! #barackobama.”
Kevin’s other brother Rayvonne Pratt is not in the public eye much, whereas Tony Durant frequently attends his brother’s games.
3. Tony Durant Played College Basketball for a Time
According to TripleMcDouble, Tony Durant played college basketball at Towson University. “My career at Towson was really good. I definitely had my up’s and down’s early on, but I was young and was able to learn from those experiences. At the end of the day, I think I got exactly what I wanted out of my college career. I put the work in and the results spoke for themselves,” the site quoted him as saying.
In 2008, according to ESPN, Tony was “a junior college transfer in his first year on scholarship as a forward at Towson.” Kevin is taller and lighter than Tony, which might have helped him achieve greater success on the basketball court as Tony never made the leap to the NBA. Tony Durant is 6 foot 7 inches tall and weighs 245 pounds. You can see his college stats here.
Tony Durant made headlines when he posted a tweet that some believed was about Russell Westbrook (Tony denied that). Westbook’s wife, Tina, tweeted back at Tony, “@LifeOfTonyD35 and it seems like you are chasing the hell out of some attention. You got it.” Tony had written, “Main man chasing the hell out these triple doubles lmao.”
4. Kevin Durant Bought His Brother a Dodge Charger & the Attention on Kevin Was Hard on Tony
ESPN describes one story from the brothers’ childhood, in which Kevin Durant tossed a boot and broke a glass light switch. Tony, who was working at McDonald’s, gave his brother the money to fix it. Years later, Kevin repaid the debt: With a new car.
“…Kevin finally paid his big brother back — with a shiny, black 2007 Dodge Charger,” the site reported. Wanda Durant, the brothers’ mother, told ESPN that Tony is not jealous of Kevin’s success, but it has been hard on him at times. “Was it hard for him? I think at times it was hard for him. I don’t think he was jealous of Kevin or envious, it was just hard hearing everybody speak about Kevin all the time and really not speak about him,” she said, according to ESPN.
Tony wrote with one of his Instagram photos, “God sent me here to be me and me only…”
5. The Mother of Tony & Kevin Is a Motivational Speaker
Kevin and Tony Durant are clearly close to their mother, and Kevin Durant has cited her as a powerful influence in his life. In 2014, he thanked his mom when he accepted the MVP award. Durant’s mother has a website titled, Mama Durant.com.
On it, she describes herself as “a strong leader, advocate, entrepreneur and philanthropist. Her passion is to inspire underserved children, single mothers and communities to move beyond their immediate circumstances and to aim for higher heights in life.” She added, “Mama Durant is the mother of two sons: businessman, Anthony (Tony) Durant; and National Basketball Association (NBA) Champion and 2017 Finals MVP player, Kevin Durant.”
She told life story in the movie “The Real MVP: The Wanda Durant Story,” which her website says was “produced by musical artist, television producer and actress Queen Latifah (Dana Owens)” and is now available on DVD.
According to CNBC, she “ravels the country as an motivational speaker and philanthropist” and has a particular interest in financial literacy because she struggled with money issues for years. When her son started making big bucks in the NBA, Wanda Durant advised him, “I wanted him to realize you have worked hard,” she says, “and it is OK for you to enjoy yourself because of your hard work. But it is also imperative that you prepare for your future.”
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Tony Durant, Kevin Durant’s Brother: 5 Fast Facts You Need to Know