Kevin Durant has voiced his interest in becoming an owner of the NFL’s Washington Commanders.
The Brooklyn Nets star, who is from the Washington, D.C. area, recently put in his bid to join a prospective ownership group looking to purchase the franchise, reported ESPN‘s Nick Friedell. Rap mogul Jay-Z and Amazon founder Jeff Bezos are rumored to be forming an ownership group of their own, which Durant alluded to potentially teaming up with in an effort to acquire his stake as a minority owner.
“In a perfect world, I would be a part of it,” Durant said. “I would love to do it. I would love to give a little bit of my money to be a part of the Commanders, but we’ll see. Hopefully it’s somebody nice. I heard [Amazon CEO Jeff] Bezos and Jay-Z, but you never know.”
Durant also spoke about Washington D.C.’s attraction as a financial hub for new ownership to capitalize on, plus the DMV area’s displayed loyalty for the football franchise while building a reputation as one of the league’s strongest fanbases.
“Our market is incredible,” the former MVP noted. “There’s a lot of support in D.C., a lot of money in D.C. to be made. I feel like we drafted well the last couple years. We got some foundation pieces that can help you win football games moving forward. So yeah, I think it’s an attractive destination. Regardless of what’s going on, they pretty much built that team up, built that stadium, built the brand up pretty nicely.”
He continued, adding, “I know we’ve had some losing seasons, but it’s starting to come around for us. I’m excited as a fan. I’m excited about the sale. I’m excited to see who they bring in and who they sell the team to and see how we move forward with it.”
Longtime Washington Commanders owner Dan Snyder and his wife Tanya recently hired Bank of America Securities in their first step towards selling their stake in the franchise. According to reports from NFL insider Ian Rapoport, the Commanders could yield a price tag of upwards of $7 billion, which would be a record-breaking figure for a North American sports franchise.
Durant already has experience in the world of sports ownership, as the perennial All-Star currently holds a 5% stake in MLS’ Philadelphia Union, is a minority owner of the club NY/NJ Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League, and is a co-owner of a pickleball team. He has also expressed his desire to help bring an NBA franchise back to Seattle, the city he was drafted to when the Seattle Supersonics selected him with the No. 2 overall pick in the 2007 NBA Draft.