Kevin Hervey, power forward for the Oklahoma City Blue, said he strives to live by the motto “be where your feet are.” With his feet currently in Oklahoma City, Hervey aims to impact the Blue on the court and the community through his faith.
“You have to worry about attacking the day,” Hervey said. “We’re not promised tomorrow. Yesterday is gone. So all you can do is be in the moment, and that’s the saying—be where your feet are, be in the moment. When my coach tells me things like that, it’s very applicable to my Christian faith as well.”
On Jan. 18, the Memorial Road Church of Christ gathered at the Cox Convention Center to support Hervey and the Blue as they battled against the Iowa Wolves.
Since being drafted by the Oklahoma City Thunder in the second round of the 2018 NBA Draft, Hervey has been a regular attendee of Memorial Road Church of Christ. Mac Maddox, the group and season ticket sales manager for the Thunder, also attends church at Memorial Road. Maddox organized the event to support Hervey and unite the community of the church and the Thunder.
In his time after being drafted, Hervey has dealt with recovering and rehabilitating a previous knee injury. As a result, Hervey said he struggled with the slowness and uncontrollable nature of the recovery process. During this time, Hervey relied on his faith in God, which had been ingrained in him from his parents.
Hervey grew up in Dallas, TX. He suffered a knee injury during his senior season in high school, which decreased his chances of being recruited by a bigger collegiate program. He made the decision to stay close to home and go to a place where he could play as a freshman, so he played for four years at the University of Texas-Arlington.
Despite dealing with two significant injuries in college, Hervey said his love for basketball motivated him to pursue a professional career after college.
“Going from college and transitioning into being a professional, you have to put in work,” Hervey said. “I appreciate the fact that I come in every morning—I’m the first person in the gym. I appreciate the grind of it. The work that I put in is what I get out of it.”
Hervey was drafted 57th in the second round by the Thunder. He has been undergoing treatment for his knee since the beginning of the season with the Blue, and he returned to play Friday night.
During the game, Hervey played 16 minutes, went one-of-three from the three-point line and scored five points. After the game, Memorial Road’s pulpit minister Phil Brookman sat down with Hervey and asked him questions about his faith and journey.
“My favorite Bible character is King David,” Hervey said, “But the one that has meant the most to me has been Job because he had everything stripped away from him, and I relate to that because of what I’ve gone through the past few years.”
When asked why he chose basketball out of all the other sports, Hervey said he made the decision in eighth grade during a football game to commit to playing basketball.
“When I was in eighth grade, I played basketball and football,” Hervey said. “We were at practice one day, I was playing middle linebacker, and the starting quarterback did a quarterback keep. It didn’t go very well. I had a headache for like two weeks straight, and I knew football wasn’t for me.”
Hervey ended the devotional on Friday night with some advice for his younger self, as well as for all the children in attendance.
“First, listen to my parents a little bit more when I was younger,” Hervey said. “Second, work hard from a young age. I didn’t start working hard and didn’t start having this mindset until recently. I would go back and tell him to work hard from a young age and anything you want, life will give.”
The Oklahoma City Blue’s next game will be at 7 p.m. in the Cox Convention Center Feb. 1, against the Santa Cruz Warriors.
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