The small black triangle etched on Kevin Durant’s wrist has a backstory. The ink, like the rest of his tattoos — “Maryland” (his home state) across his shoulder blades, a Tupac photo on his leg — is an attempt to seize a moment in time and designate it as noteworthy.
The triangle tattoo represents Durant’s bond with his business partner Rich Kleiman and their mutual buddy Charlie Bell. A few years ago, the three men were hanging out, talking about the wonderful opportunities that were ahead of them, when someone suggested that they get tattoos commemorating their bromance.
Even to them, it seems antiquated now. Friendship tattoos are adorable. How adorable!
“I wouldn’t get most of the tattoos I have now,” Durant jokes. “But that’s what makes them cool.” I got them all at different points in my life when I was feeling something I wanted to remember.”
Kleiman chuckles and gestures to a Chinese character tattooed on his arm.
“Like, this means ‘patience,'” explains the 41-year-old executive. “Can you imagine if I went in somewhere right now and said, ‘Yeah, what up, my man?'” Could you please tell me what the Chinese symbol for patience is?’
“He’d be like, ‘OK, midlife crisis.'” ‘How are you, Dad?’ But when I was 19, in Miami, I was like, ‘Yooo, give me “patience”!’ ”
We’re sitting at a shady table at the Montage Hotel’s cafe in Beverly Hills. After defeating the Lakers, the Warriors have the day off, and Durant and Kleiman are making the most of it. There was a morning meeting with Brat (a company that created a network for young YouTube stars), a lunch interview in Beverly Hills, then a red-eye flight to Washington, D.C., to attend the launch of College Track, which prepares high school students to apply to and graduate from college, at the Durant Center in Prince George’s County, Maryland.
As a two-time NBA Finals MVP and aspiring entrepreneur, life may be compared to a speedboat ride down the chocolate river in Charlie and the Chocolate Factory, with sensory and experiential overload at every turn.
“My platform is hoops,” adds Durant. “Billions of people are watching, so why not leverage it to do the cool stuff that we like to do?”
Durant can meet whomever he thinks is fascinating, invest in any company he likes, and attend any event he wants as one of the finest basketball players on the planet. Jack Dorsey, CEO of Twitter and Square? This year, he flew in for Durant’s birthday party. Eddy Cue, Apple’s VP? A major Warriors fan whose business has just greenlit a scripted sitcom called Swagger based on Durant’s AAU basketball experiences. David Geffen, Oprah Winfrey, and Diane von Furstenberg? Durant has spent the last few summers hanging out with them at Google’s invite-only celebrity camp at the Verdura Resort in Sicily.
His world is wide open, and the issue for Durant and other famous athletes-turned-business moguls isn’t only finding the time to take advantage of the exclusive possibilities that are available to them, but also finding the appropriate motivations to do so.