News 9 Goes Behind The Scenes Of 'The Real MVP'

<p>In 2014, Thunder fans, Oklahomans watched as Kevin Durant accepted the NBA's MVP award.</p>

Thursday, May 5th 2016, 10:49 pm

By: News 9


In 2014, Thunder fans, Oklahomans watched as Kevin Durant accepted the NBA's MVP award. He thanked God, his team, family and friends, and of course, his mother, Wanda Pratt. Now, Lifetime will tell Wanda's story in an upcoming original movie, The Real MVP.

We traveled to Canada for the last week of filming where we saw Pratt, on set for the first time, watch moments of her life played out before her.

Kelly Ogle: "How's she doing?"

Wanda Pratt: "She's doing good. She's capturing me very nicely, yes."

Cassandra Freeman portrays Pratt in the movie, which tells the true story of her journey, a 21-year-old single mother of two boys, Tony and Kevin.

Kelly Ogle: "Quite a diverse character you have to bring to life.

Cassandra Freeman: "Yeah, it's a heck of a script that's for sure and you see some of the darkest periods in her life."

The movie show Pratt's struggle to make ends meet, as she leaned on her mother, Barbara for support, played by Denzel Washington's wife Pauletta Washington.

"She really forced her to go and just pushed her out of the nest just like birds do, they get to a certain age and just push you out because they've done all they can do," Washington said.

Behind the scenes, we watched as the crew recreated Kevin's time at the University of Texas. In one scene, KD tells his mom he wants to go to the NBA.

Kelly Ogle: "Do you remember that?"

Wanda Pratt: "The scene is a little different but yes, I remember he and I had that conversation about him taking a step and I wanted him to finish school but he assured me he would finish but if this is what you want I was supportive."

Wanda supported Kevin all the way to the top, watching him move to OKC with the Thunder and rise to the NBA's top honor in 2014.

Kelly Ogle: "We all watched it and we're stunned and you were overwhelmed."

Wanda Pratt: "I was, because I knew that he would mention me of course but I never thought it would be to that magnitude. Some of the things that he talked about I wasn't sure if he remembered or if they had an impact on him but that day, it was amazing."

"You made us believe, you kept us off the street put clothes on our backs, food on the table," Durant said in his speech. "You went to sleep hungry, you sacrificed for us - you're the real MVP."

KD dedicated his moving speech to his mother.

"It's been a long good happy sad up and down road of my life and to see that this is one of the stops in my life, it makes me feel blessed," Pratt said.

"The Real MVP" premieres on Lifetime during Mother's Day weekend, Saturday, May 7 at 7 pm. The movie is produced by A+E Studios. Executive producers are Queen Latifah and Wanda Pratt.

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