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FORBES ASIA MARCH 2020
Durant was raised by his mother in Prince
George’s County, Maryland, outside Wash-
ington, D.C., in a rough neighborhood. By
middle school, he was 183 centimeters and
mostly looking down. By 17, he was the MVP
of McDonald’s High School All-American
Game. By 18, College Player of the Year at
the University of Texas. By 19, NBA Rookie
of the Year. And so on, all the way to league
MVP recognition and several runs at the
crown with the Thunder and then his 2016
decision to join the team he couldn’t beat—
signing a $54 million contract with the War-
riors. The move would forever alter his brand
and his business.
Durant first took an interest in the money
game when he was weighing competing en-
dorsement offers from Nike and Under Ar-
mour in 2014: “I learned a lot about the busi-
ness side through that. It really broke things
down for me.” Oklahoma City offered slim
options. “There’s oil and real estate,” Durant
says, “but that was a real old boys’ club, and
it was hard to break into.” With one foot still
in the oil patch, Durant and Kleiman waded
into the tech world, lobbying to invest in the
delivery startup Postmates and the robo-in-
vestor Acorns.
In the Bay Area as a Golden State Warrior,
though, he had VIP access to the world’s hot-
test startups. “All the founders and investors
come [to Warriors games], and you get to
interact with and meet them,” Durant says.
“They look like normal people, but they are
changing the world so fast and have so much
power.”
Durant soon struck up friendships with
the likes of Marc Andreessen, Airbnb’s Brian
Chesky and Joe Gebbia, and executives from
Google and Apple. In the Silicon Valley start-
up scene, Durant money was sexy, attracting
press, street cred and customers. Soon came
investments in cryptocurrency exchange
Coinbase, financial app Robinhood, L.A.-
based streaming service Caffeine TV, Imper-
fect Food, Lime scooters and more.
“He learned about what it takes to start
companies and invest in companies,” says
Eddy Cue, the head of Apple’s vast inter-
net software and services division, who first
met Durant for dinner and then talked un-
til 3 a.m. “When you’re winning, everyone’s
interested in learning what makes you tick,
and Kevin was smart to take full advantage of
meeting people.”
NBA superstar Kevin Durant
is #7 of the Brooklyn Nets
ENTREPRENEURS
