Today’s NBA players seemingly earn more money in endorsements and investments off the court than they do with their actual basketball contracts.
It’s a trend that started years ago with the likes of Michael Jordan and Magic Johnson, but that’s been taken to a whole new level recently.
In following the lead of fellow MVP and nemesis LeBron James, Golden State Warriors forward Kevin Durant has decided to invest some of his hard-earned cash into a pizza chain.
“I went to a one of them and saw how quickly they did it and was really impressed with the quality,” Durant said about the investment, via ESPN. “I just felt like, given how fast our lives our these days, we don’t want to wait for our pizza anymore.”
The chain, Pieology, has 140 franchises to date. Locations range from New York City to Las Vegas. It’s not yet known how much Durant invested.
This comes on the heels of James turning a six-figure investment into Blaze Pizza into a whopping $35 million.
For his part, Durant says he’s not looking to copy what James has done.
“This isn’t about me versus LeBron,” Durant continued. “I think we do have different interests and we handle things differently, but the respect for each other is there. I do think we, as athletes, have realized the value of our stock these days, of the control that we have over what makes us valuable, including our social media accounts.”
Since joining the defending champion Warriors, Durant has made his name known in Silicon Valley, the hub of the United States’ technology sector.
This new endeavor likely won’t pay off at that clip. But Durant continues to take advantage of the possibilities a larger market has provided him since departing Oklahoma City for the Bay Area. If you don’t think that played a role in what is still a contentious decision to leave the Thunder, we’re not too sure what to tell you.