FORBES.COM DECEMBER 31, 20 1980
THELIST^—KEVINDURANTor Lebron have attempted.
Brooklyn is Durant’s fourth career stop. He
was originally drafted by the Seattle SuperSon-
ics, which soon moved the franchise to Oklaho-
ma City, where he became a superstar playing
for the Thunder. In the Bay Area, when he de-
camped to the Golden State Warriors, he became
a champion, a lightning rod—many fans cynical-
ly viewed him as jumping onto the Stephen Cur-
ry juggernaut that was already minting titles—
and an entrepreneur.
In choosing Brooklyn, he seeks to redefi ne
all three aspects. Can the superstar come back
from a devastating public injury to dominate the
league again? Can he win a championship with
a team centered on him? (He’s already fl exed
new muscles there, eschewing the high-profi le
New York Knicks, a pairing seemingly preor-
dained, for the upstart Nets.) And can he trans-
late his Silicon Valley lessons to the world capital
of capital as well as of media and fashion. “Walk-
ing around New York,” Durant says, “there is so
much greatness, hard work and determination.”
Durant’s outside business vehicle: Thirty Five
Ventures, cofounded with his manager, Rich
Kleiman, a music industry veteran who previ-
ously helped start the sports division of Jay-Z’s
talent agency, Roc Nation. Thirty Five Ventures
has 15 full-time employees running Durant’s en-
dorsements, foundation, and expanding collec-
tion of startups and media plays. Over the past
few years he’s plowed more than $15 million into
40-plus startups. Nearly 70% of the companies
have raised subsequent rounds at higher valu-
ations, scoring what Durant claims are paper
gains topping 400%.
More directly, Thirty Five Ventures has a
production arm creating basketball-themed doc-
umentaries, series and scripted shows for outlets
like Apple, YouTube and ESPN. “LeBron James
was the fi rst case study that you can build a real
business while you’re playing,” says Kleiman.
“Kevin is building a real and authentic company.”
For Durant, a 30 Under 30 alum who recent-
ly hit the grand old age of 31, the goal is noth-
ing short of a ten-digit net worth. By the time his
playing career is over, he’ll have made well over
$500 million from salary and sponsorships. Now,
Durant says, “I want to use the checks I get from
companies to create true generational wealth.”D
urant was raised by his moth-
er in Prince George’s Coun-
ty, Maryland, outside Wash-
ington, D.C., in a rough neigh-
borhood where he was always
looking over his shoulder. By middle school, he
was 6 feet and mostly looking down. By 17, heSettling into his (yes, infi nite) blue velvet couch,
Durant can toggle between the stunning skyline
and his trophy-stacked offi ce, fi lled with a mu-
seum’s worth of MVP, All-Star and other super-
lative hardware. (His two NBA championship
rings, won with the Golden State Warriors, have
a special home in the bedroom.)
But Durant’s focus is on present challenges,
rather than past triumphs. Across from his trophy
room sit a Pilates machine and a cagelike strength
and balance trainer called a Sensopro, here to as-
sist a career-saving comeback as he rehabs the
Achilles tendon he ruptured during June’s NBA
Finals in front of a television audience of 18 mil-
lion. That season was done—the current one too.
“What’s most important is to take care of my body
so I can put my product back on the court,” Du-
rant says, fresh from a workout wearing a print-
ed hoodie featuring the antihero from the fi lm A
Clockwork Orange and black-and-orange Jordan
high-tops. “How well you play on the court deter-
mines how big your business is going to grow.”
That business starts with a $164 million con-
tract he signed with the Brooklyn Nets this sum-
mer and a ten-year, $275 million Nike shoe deal
that assumes his continued superstardom. With
those two alone, he will earn more than $70 mil-
lion this season without suiting up for a single
game. Durant’s goal is to turn that income into
assets at a scale few athletes not named JordanThe sleek and infinitely
long apartment overlooking
Manhattan’s sleek and
infinitely long High Line park
perfectly, if unintentionally,
frames the owner of this
mansion in the sky, the
NBA superstar Kevin Durant,
who is so trim he looks
even taller than 6 feet 10.
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