When he arrived in Oklahoma City, Durant appeared to have only two tattoos: his mother's name, Wanda, above his left breast and his grandmother's name, Barbara, above his right breast. Durant then added a small tattoo on the bottom part of his left wrist, another tat he declined to speak about when asked its meaning last season.
Now, Durant barely has an uncovered spot on his stomach and chest.
While many have accepted Durant's decision and continue to root for him, it's rubbed others the wrong way. To some, the tattoos represent the first chink in Durant's armor, somehow serving as a sign that Durant is no choir boy. Perhaps the condemnation from those corners shouldn't come as a surprise since the form of body art still is a relatively new concept to many in this state. Oklahoma became the last state to legalize tattooing when it passed legislation in 2006.
But the majority of Durant's tats are inspirational sayings in the form of scripture or names and images that pay homage to his family and hometown.
Inscribed at the bottom of the right side of his stomach, Durant has “Walk by faith not by sight,” coming from 2 Corinthians 5:7. Immediately above that is a cross. Directly above the cross is another scripture, this one adopted from Proverbs 15:33, which reads, “The fear of the Lord teaches a man wisdom, and humility comes before honor.”
On the left side of his stomach, Durant has an image of a house, which he once told me was the home he grew up in. In front of the house is a boy wearing a No. 35 jersey dribbling a basketball. And above his belly button, Durant, a suburban Washington, D.C. native, has the Washington Nationals' squiggly red “W'” insignia.
It's all the same stuff about Durant that fans have come to love.
It's just packaged differently.
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