Page 21 - Forbes - Asia (March 2020)

He will earn more So will this playbook work in New York?
“New York will be the culmination of the dif-

than $70 million ferent communities Kevin’s touched, and it
will take our company to the next level,” says
Kleiman, who met Durant originally through
this season without a mutual friend, the musician Wale, at a 19

Jay-Z concert. From his loft, he can walk to
suiting up for a Thirty Five’s soon-to-open 418sqm Chelsea
headquarters.
single game. ing onto deals, New York is about owning his
If the Bay Area was about Durant latch-

own media. There’s Swagger, a scripted se- ENTREPRENEURS
ries based on Durant’s early life backed by the
Hollywood titan Brian Grazer; it’ll be distrib-
uted on Apple’s new streaming service (thanks
in part to his friendship with Cue, the Apple
executive). Lower-budget series and shorts
live on his YouTube channel, which now ap-
proaches 800,000 subscribers. Durant’s fran-
MJ VS. LBJ VS. KD chise, The Boardroom, covers the business

HOW KEVIN DURANT POSTS UP AGAINST MICHAEL JORDAN around elite athletes with a website, newslet-
AND LEBRON JAMES ON (AND OFF) THE COURT. ter and ESPN show. “The younger generation
is looking for access and authenticity,” says
ESPN president James Pitaro.
All these initiatives could yield ten-bag-
ger results. The secret sits in those workout
machines in Durant’s apartment. No player
of Durant’s caliber has ever returned from a
MICHAEL JORDAN LEBRON JAMES KEVIN DURANT
ruptured Achilles to the same level of domi-
AGE nance. No player in almost half a century has

brought an NBA trophy to the country’s larg-
56
31
35
est city, one mad for basketball. “The team is
NBA DRAFT PICK
in the garage stage, where we are putting the

idea together. It’s more intimate, everyone
1
3
2
NBA TITLES understands the goal and has a fresh experi-
ence,” Durant says. “A championship would
6 3 2
be a whole other level, but injecting a new en-
INSTAGRAM FOLLOWING ergy into a city through basketball would be
even cooler.”
19.1 Million 53.5 Million 11.6 Million
@jumpman23 @KingJames @easymoneysniper While Acorns and Lime scooters will suc-
ceed or fail without him, with his new initia-
NBA CAREER EARNINGS1
tives and his own assets, he controls his des-
$90 Million $307 Million $224 Million tiny—and sees no limits. “I want to own and
(1984-1993, 1995-1998, (2003-present) (2007-present)
2001-2003) run an NBA team—run day-to-day operations
and impact young players coming through the
2019 NIKE SNEAKER DEAL
league,” he says, ticking off the path that Mi-
$130 Million BEST INVESTMENTS $26 Million chael Jordan took to become a billionaire.
$32 Million
AL BELLO / GETTY IMAGES Charlotte Hornets DISCARDED NICKNAME Coinbase, Postmates forward to touch the floor of his apartment
“I started down here,” Durant adds, leaning
with his gigantic hand. “I know there’ll be kids
Blaze Pizza, Liverpool FC
popping up in my family, and I want them to
start above this roof. The only way to get there

for your family is to create money, and I want
The Akron Hammer
Magic
Durantula
to do it in a cooler way, not just being greedy
1 Not adjusted for inflation and accumulating as much as I can.”
MAR CH 2020 F ORBES A SIA