As we gear up for Boardroom and CNBC’s Game Plan conference this summer, let’s learn more about one of the event’s featured speakers, co-founder of 35V and decorated NBA player Kevin Durant.
In a first-of-its-kind partnership, CNBC, First in Business Worldwide, and Boardroom, Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman’s premier media brand covering the business of sports, music, and entertainment, are teaming up to produce Game Plan, an all-new, high-powered event taking place on July 25 in Los Angeles. Today, we’re highlighting Durant himself, one of the event’s featured speakers. Click here to view the full list of Game Plan speakers.
Few athletes get to be serious contenders for a spot on their era’s Mount Rushmore, but by the time his playing days are over, Kevin Durant will have a compelling case to state.
The Phoenix Suns forward certainly has the accolades to prove it through his raw box score stats alone — 27.3 points, 7.1 rebounds, and 4.3 assists per game for his career — but if you need more convincing, he’s also a 13-time NBA All-Star, four-time scoring champion, two-time NBA champion, two-time Finals MVP, and the 2014 league MVP. In this most recent NBA season, KD moved up to 13th on the league’s all-time scoring list, surpassing Oscar Robertson.
Off the hardwood, Durant is the co-founder of 35V alongside business partner Rich Kleiman. Founded in 2016, 35V incorporates the duo’s business entities across sports, tech, media, philanthropy, and more. 35V’s portfolio and purview includes:
- Boardroom, the media network whose website you’re reading right now at the intersection of sports, business, and entertainment and the home of KD’s show, “The ETCs.”
- Ownership stakes in emerging teams and sports properties including NWSL club NJ/NY Gotham FC, Philadelphia Union of MLS, League One Volleyball, Athletes Unlimited, the Premier Lacrosse League, and Major League Pickleball’s Brooklyn Aces
- Film and TV projects including the Academy Award-winning short film Two Distant Strangers, the critically acclaimed Apple TV+ drama series Swagger, and Showtime documentary films NYC Point Gods and Basketball County: In the Water
- The Durant Family Foundation, which boasts signature initiatives like Build It and They Will Ball, a global basketball court renovation project with 28 courts completed to date, as well as the Durant Center, a 10-year, $10 million program in partnership with College Track that helps low-income and underserved students enroll in and graduate from college. Durant received the season-long NBA Cares Community Assist and ESPN Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian awards in 2018.
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Kevin Durant’s Game Plan
Background & Career
- Native of Prince George’s County, Maryland outside Washington, DC
- 2006-2007: University of Texas Longhorns
- 2007-2016: Seattle SuperSonics / Oklahoma City Thunder
- Selected No. 2 overall in 2007 NBA Draft
- 2013: Founded Durant Family Foundation
- 2016-2019: Golden State Warriors
- 2016: Co-founded 35V
- 2019: Co-founded Boardroom
- 2019-2023: Brooklyn Nets
- 2020: Purchased minority stake in MLS club Philadelphia Union
- 2022: Purchased minority stake in NWSL club NJ/NY Gotham FC
- 2022: Invested in League One Volleyball
- 2022: Invested in Athletes Unlimited
- 2022: Invested in Major League Pickleball as co-owner of Brooklyn Aces
- 2023-present: Phoenix Suns
Accomplishments & Milestones
- Two-time NBA Champion (2017, 2018)
- Two-time NBA Finals MVP (2017, 2018)
- NBA Most Valuable Player (2014)
- 13-time NBA All-Star
- Four-time NBA scoring champion (2010, 2011, 2012, 2014)
- Three-time Olympic Gold Medalist (2012, 2016, 2020)
- Tied with Carmelo Anthony for all-time record in men’s basketball
- NBA Rookie of the Year (2008)
- Consensus NCAA National Player of the Year (2007)
- Big 12 Player of the Year (2007)
- NBA Cares Community Assist Award (2018)
- ESPN Muhammad Ali Sports Humanitarian Award (2018)
- Executive producer of Apple TV+ original series Swagger (2021-present)
- Executive producer of Sports Emmy-nominated 2022 documentary NYC Point Gods, Academy Award-winning 2020 short film Two Distant Strangers, and 2020 documentary Basketball County: In the Water
Click here to learn more about Boardroom and CNBC’s Game Plan event and find out how you can sign up today.
