Kevin Durant’s hometown team, the Washington Commanders may be up for sale, and Durant wants to be part of the next ownership group
More and more current and former athletes are becoming the majority and minority owners of sports franchises. This is true from the most famous, like Michael Jordan, the current owner of the Charlotte Hornets, to LeBron James, who said one day he wants to own an NBA team and currently has ownership stakes in the Boston Red Sox and Liverpool FC. According to reports, Nets superstar Kevin Durant is trying to be the next NBA star to join this list.
Durant is no stranger to being part of ownership groups. He currently has a stake with the Philadelphia Union of the MLS, with the option to buy another 5%. He became a minority owner of the club NY/NJ Gotham FC of the National Women’s Soccer League in March, and to top it all off; he became co-owner of a pickleball team, yes, pickleball. Durant has set his sights much higher for his next venture.
Durant grew up in Prince George’s County in Maryland and is a lifelong Washington Commanders fan. Durant recently spoke about his desire to be part of the ownership group.
“In a perfect world, I would be a part of it,” Durant told ESPN. “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, who has also talked about the possibility of owning an NBA team and trying to bring a team back to Seattle, knows how much support there is for the Commanders in Washington.
“Our market is incredible,” Durant said. “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.
Nothing is official as of yet in the selling of the Commanders. Still, Dan and Tanya Snyder have hired Bank of America Securities to look into potential transactions when it comes to the team.
It would not be a considerable percentage if Durant were to be involved, as when any NFL team is up for sale, people with deep pockets all try to get involved, but as salaries and endorsement continue to skyrocket, don’t be surprised if you see more and more athletes become involved in ownership in the future.