Newspaper Skewered Over Kevin Durant Headline — By His Mom

What's This?

Oklahoma City Thunder's Kevin Durant (35) is embraced and kissed by his mother, Wanda Pratt, after the Thunder's 109-103 win over the San Antonio Spurs in Game 4 of the NBA basketball playoffs Western Conference finals, Saturday, June 2, 2012, in Oklahoma City.

Image: Eric Gay/Associated Press

By Sam Laird2014-05-01 20:21:13 UTC

Kevin Durant isn't just the greatest scorer in basketball — he's also a famous mama's boy, in the best sense of the term. He's known for giving his mother Wanda Pratt hugs and kisses court-side as he led the Oklahoma City Thunder to the 2012 NBA Finals.

The 2014 playoffs aren't going so well for Durant, however, and an Oklahoma City newspaper took him to task with what it later admitted was an overly harsh headline: "Mr. Unreliable."

But the paper backtracked too late. The headline provoked a feisty response from the woman fans know as Mama Durant.

See also: Sights on the NBA, Kiwi Gardner Concludes Explosive Rookie Year

Durant and the Thunder are down 3-2 to the Memphis Grizzlies in their first-round playoff series, and a loss in Memphis on Thursday night will end their season. Durant was torrid for the entire NBA regular season, but has struggled by his standards against the Grizzlies. That's why The Oklahoman's Thursday morning headline called Durant out with the nickname "Mr. Unreliable."

Mama Durant, however, has a message for The Oklahoman: Her 25-year-old son is actually quite reliable, thank you very much.

God bless Twitter, because that's pretty awesome.

The paper apologized for the headline later on Thursday morning, saying it "missed the mark."

"The words were overstated and unduly harsh," wrote sports editor Mike Sherman. "The headline and presentation left the impression that we were commenting on Durant’s season, career or even character. We were not. We were referring only to the Memphis series."

Kevin Durant led the league in scoring this year at a cool 32 points per game, and becomes a free agent in 2016. Rest assured, every NBA team and its mama will be clambering for a shot at his "unreliable" services.

Meanwhile, the NBA released its season blooper reel on Thursday morning. Here for your consideration are three minutes of gaffes, gags and guffaws.

Topics: Entertainment, NBA, Sports