Kevin Durant, the Oklahoma City Thunder’s Christian forward, may have cried after an emotional NBA Finals loss to the Miami Heat on Thursday night, but the league’s leading shooter has expressed nothing but gratitude for the opportunity to compete.
“Tough way to end a season but I am truly blessed to have the privilege to play for such a great city, congrats to the Miami Heat,” the 23-year-old Thunder forward wrote on his Twitter page.
While Durant has continually called the opportunity to play with his teammates a blessing, he has been vocal about his Christian faith even before advancing to his first NBA finals this season. Many became curious about Durant’s faith after the star walked into last year’s playoffs with a Bible in his backpack.
The Christian Post.com reports that the forward admitted that he was attempting to get closer to the God by reading Scripture every day.
“I just want to grow spiritually with the Lord. I’m keeping strong at it, just trying to make my walk with faith a little better,” Durant told the press last season. “That’s making me a better person, opening my eyes to things and I’m also maturing as a person. I’m just trying to grow.”
Although it seems Durant’s team has grown over the past year, which was made evident with their stint in the NBA Finals, he admitted that the Thunder’s recent loss was hurtful.
“It hurts. We’re all brothers on this team and it just hurts to go out like this,” Durant admitted in his post-game press conference. “We made it to the finals.”
The star shooter remained humble during his interview, giving credit to the skills of the Heat players.
“Their defense is really good. I didn’t want to admit it during the series but now that its over those guys are really good,” Durant said. “It’s unfortunate for us, man we wanted it so bad. But we all gotta keep our heads high, I’m a positive guy so I’m gonna keep my head high.”
