Agent Rich Kleiman reflects on Kevin Durant's famous 2014 MVP speech: 'You're never going to replica

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  • It has been six years since NBA superstar Kevin Durant made an emotional tribute to his mother during his famous 2014 MVP speech.
  • Rich Kleiman — the 10-time NBA All-Star's longtime agent, manager, and business partner — reflected on the ceremony from his vantage point seated behind Durant's mother, Wanda.
  • "You could just tell that like Kevin needed that forum to say so many of those things," Kleiman told Insider while promoting the upcoming Showtime documentary "BASKETBALL COUNTY: In The Water."
  • "It was bigger than the MVP trophy that day," he added.
  • Visit Insider's homepage for more stories.

Six years ago, Kevin Durant made an emotional tribute to his mother during his 2014 MVP speech.

And six years ago, Rich Kleiman — the NBA superstar's longtime agent, manager, and business partner — was in the room where it happened.

Kleiman was seated just behind Durant's mother, Wanda, as the 10-time NBA MVP delivered a heartfelt message honoring his mother for all she sacrificed in order to position him for success.

"You the real MVP," Durant famously said through tears.

Rich Kleiman (left) and Kevin Durant. Taylor Hill/Getty Images

Kleiman had been working with Durant for just two years when the 6-foot-10 sniper made his iconic speech, but he remembers feeling as though he was witnessing history in real time.

"I obviously didn't realize in the moment the magnitude of the words he was saying and how they would impact people and for so long," Kleiman told Insider. "But I did feel this sense of, like — as you go through life, there's moments where you know you're never going to replicate that moment and you're proud that you could be a part of it."

"I just remembering feeling like I was just so honored to be there and to be part of it," he added.

Durant said that his childhood dream was to become a recreation-league coach and noted that he, his brother, and his mother "moved so many different places" throughout his childhood that he "never thought [he] could make it to college, [the] NBA, or stand up here in front of you guys today and be an NBA MVP."

"I had so much help," Durant said. "I fell so many times and got back up. I've been through the toughest times with my family, but I'm still standing."

Kleiman remembered there being "so much emotion in the room" while his client spoke.

"You could just tell that like Kevin needed that forum to say so many of those things" Kleiman said. "It was bigger than the MVP trophy that day."

AP Photo/Sue Ogrocki

Durant grew up in a single-parent household in Prince George's county — a region of Maryland just outside of Washington, DC. PG county — as it's colloquially known — has churned out dozens of NBA stars, all of whom defied the odds and resisted the pull of drugs and other illicit activities in the area.

While only three in 10,000 high school basketball players make it to the NBA nationwide, the statistics for Prince George's county are far greater. Durant and Kleiman's upcoming documentary, "BASKETBALL COUNTY: In The Water," explores in depth the region's relationship to the game and the disproportionate amount of successful basketball players who come from there.

 

"I just hope people like the film," Kleiman said of the documentary, which will air on Showtime Friday, May 15 at 9 p.m. "I hope people in PG county love it. I hope the players from there love it. I hope the coaches from there love it [and] the parents that supported their kids through their dreams of basketball love it."

Durant's mother is undoubtedly top of mind in that final category. The two-time NBA champion and Finals MVP Durant closed his now-famous speech with a moving message directly for his mom.

"I don't think you know what you did," he said through tears. "You had my brother when you were 18 years old. Three years later, I came out. The odds were stacked against us. Single parent with two boys by the time you were 21 years old. Everybody told us we weren't supposed to be here. We went from apartment to apartment by ourselves. One of the best memories I had was when we moved into our first apartment, no bed, no furniture and we just sat in the living room and just hugged each other. We thought we made it."

"When something good happens to you, I don't know about you guys, but I tend to look back to what brought me here. You wake me up in the middle of the night in the summer times, making me run up a hill, making me do push-ups, screaming at me from the sidelines of my games at 8 or 9 years old. 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."

Kevin Durant and his mother, Wanda. REUTERS/Steve Sisney

Kleiman said the clip, which continues to circulate around the globe six years later, was "hard to watch back" for Durant because it was such an emotional moment for him.

"After it happened, there was so much press demand for [Durant] to talk about it and I think it was one of those things where he wanted it to just be about the moment and the speech and not have to talk about the line," Kleiman said. "As time went on, I could tell that he just sees how important that was for so many people and is definitely proud of the moment."

"He has come to truly recognize how special and important that was for so many other people and their relationships with their mothers," he added.

Check out the full speech below

 

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