KEVIN DURANT JUST RAN A 24,000% FAST BREAK ON SILICON VALLEY

Kevin Durant might have just hit the nastiest shot of his career.

And this sniper wasn’t even armed at the time.

We’re talking roughly a 24,000% return on Hugging Face.

Not 24%.

Not 240%.

Not 2,400%.

TWENTY. FOUR. THOUSAND. PERCENT.

That’s not an investment return.

That’s catching the defense sleeping after a made basket, throwing a 94-foot outlet pass and dunking the entire cap table through the rim.

Durant and Rich Kleiman’s investment operation reportedly put about $250,000 into Hugging Face across its early rounds.

With Nvidia reportedly agreeing to acquire Hugging Face at a $12.9 billion valuation, Durant’s piece has been estimated at north of $60 million.

My brother.

KD turned role-player money into a max contract.

WE DARE YOU TO TELL HIM SHUT UP AND DRIBBLE.

AND HERE’S THE CRAZY PART

Back when Durant got into Hugging Face, this wasn’t the Hugging Face everybody knows today.

It wasn’t yet standing at half court yelling:

“I’M THE GITHUB OF ARTIFICIAL INTELLIGENCE.”

Hell no.

Hugging Face originally started as a chatbot company.

Think about that possession.

You’re Kevin Durant.

It’s 2017.

You’ve just won an NBA championship.

You could be somewhere ordering another bottle of champagne.

Instead, somebody comes walking up talking about:

“Yo KD, we’re building this chatbot…”

Bruh.

Imagine hearing that pitch in 2017.

That’s a 30-foot heat-check with 19 seconds still left on the shot clock.

Coach is screaming:

WHAT ARE YOU DOING?!

KD:

“Relax.”

SPLASH. EASY MONEY.

Nine years later everybody is running back downcourt pretending they knew it was going in.

No the hell you didn’t.

KD DIDN’T PREDICT AI.

And that’s where people are going to screw this story up.

They’re going to make Kevin Durant sound like he was sitting in his apartment in 2017 studying transformer architecture saying:

“Gentlemen, large language models will eventually require a dominant open-source distribution ecosystem.”

Stop it.

That’s ESPN Monday-morning quarterbacking.

The real lesson is much more interesting.

KD GOT INTO THE RIGHT GYM.

That’s it.

Because venture capital works a whole lot like basketball.

Everybody sees the bucket.

Nobody sees the relocation that happened before the pass arrived.

Durant didn’t necessarily know exactly where the ball was going.

He understood where he needed to be standing.

THEN KD GOT TRADED TO SILICON VALLEY

Well, technically he signed with Golden State.

But let’s call that what it was.

Kevin Durant didn’t just join the Warriors.

KD accidentally enrolled in Stanford Business School with basketball practice at 10:00 AM.

That Warriors locker room was ridiculous.

You’ve got billionaires around the organization.

Venture capitalists sitting courtside.

Founders everywhere.

Tech executives around the team.

And then you’ve got Andre Iguodala running point.

Back then Iggy wasn’t just reading defenses.

This dude was reading CAP TABLES.

While everybody else was checking the scouting report, Iguodala was apparently checking valuations.

Coinbase.

Zoom.

Datadog.

Technology companies.

Venture deals.

Eventually his own venture operation.

The man basically became the Chris Paul of athlete investing.

“KD, come set this screen.”

Except the screen is a Series A.

IMAGINE THOSE WARRIORS ROAD TRIPS

Other locker rooms:

“Where we eating?”

Warriors locker room:

“Anybody look at this enterprise SaaS company’s customer acquisition costs?”

Steph Curry walking through:

“Anybody got headphones?”

Iggy:

“Dump the headphones. Have you seen this IPO?”

Draymond probably somewhere arguing with a founder about burn rate.

Steve Kerr trying to draw up Spain pick-and-roll while half the roster is discussing Series B valuations.

THIS WASN’T A LOCKER ROOM ANYMORE.

This was Y Combinator with ice baths and massages

And here’s where athletic entrepreneurs need to pay attention.

PROXIMITY CHANGES YOUR SHOT SELECTION.

Put a player around bad basketball long enough and he’ll start taking bad shots.

Put him around great basketball and suddenly he sees passes he couldn’t see before.

Business works exactly the same way.

If everybody around you is talking about:

Cars.

Clubs.

Jewelry.

Vacations.

That’s the offense you’re going to learn.

But if everybody around you is talking about:

Equity.

Ownership.

Startups.

Technology.

Investing.

Distribution.

Artificial intelligence.

Now you’re seeing the weak-side defender.

You’re reading the low man.

You’re recognizing the tag.

You’re manipulating the help.

Your entire fucking court gets bigger.

That’s what happened around those Warriors teams.

Basketball gave these dudes access to rooms most people couldn’t get into with an appointment.

And eventually…

THE BALL FOUND KD IN THE CORNER.

THEN A RANDOM FRENCH FOUNDER PULLED UP

This might be my favorite part of the whole story.

According to Rich Kleiman, the Hugging Face opportunity started with one of the founders approaching him at an event.

Cold.

No elaborate introduction.

No six-month networking sequence.

Dude basically walked into the gym, saw Rich Kleiman standing there and said:

CHECK BALL.

That’s founder mentality.

No screen.

No play call.

No permission.

ISO.

He pitched.

Rich listened.

Eventually Durant’s investment operation put money in.

Now think about the basketball geometry of that moment.

What if Kleiman isn’t at that event?

What if Durant never builds an investment operation?

What if KD isn’t surrounded by technology people?

What if Iguodala doesn’t help normalize investing inside NBA circles?

What if Durant spends his entire career treating basketball as nothing more than basketball?

THERE IS NO POSSESSION.

The shot never exists.

THAT’S THE LESSON FOR TODAY’S ATHLETE.

Listen to me.

Because this is where NIL athletes are currently dribbling the air out of the basketball.

You get $40,000 from NIL.

You think you won.

You get a car deal.

You think you won.

You get 300,000 followers.

You think you won.

You get invited to some fancy event and spend the entire night taking pictures for Instagram.

YOU MISSED THE READ.

The event wasn’t the opportunity.

THE ROOM WAS THE OPPORTUNITY.

Who was standing next to you?

Who owns something?

Who is building something?

Who understands something you don’t?

Who just raised money?

Who’s starting a company?

Who’s investing?

Who’s developing technology?

Who knows somebody you need to know?

Basketball got you through the door.

NOW GET YOUR HEAD UP AND READ THE FLOOR.

YOUR SPORT IS THE POINT GUARD.

This is the part young athletes need tattooed onto their brains.

Basketball doesn’t only pay you in basketball money.

Basketball pays in access.

Basketball throws the outlet pass.

Your job is to run the floor and catch it.

Your scholarship might put you next to a billionaire.

Your NIL deal might put you next to a founder.

Your tournament might put you next to an investor.

Your alumni event might put you next to somebody building the company that dominates an industry 15 years from now.

Your teammate’s father might own a company.

Your professor might become a founder.

Your booster might become your first investor.

Your opponent might become your business partner.

THE COURT IS BIGGER THAN 94 FEET.

Most athletes just never lift their heads long enough to see it.

KD’S $60 MILLION BUCKET STARTED YEARS BEFORE THE SHOT.

That’s the beautiful part.

People see the estimated $60+ million.

I see the possession.

Golden State.

Silicon Valley.

Andre Iguodala.

Rich Kleiman.

35 Ventures.

Technology events.

Founder walks up.

Conversation happens.

Investment gets made.

Company pivots.

AI explodes.

Nvidia comes flying down the lane with $12.9 BILLION.

And nine years after the original possession started…

BUCKET.

That’s not a catch-and-shoot three.

That’s a nine-year offensive set.

SERENDIPITY + PROXIMITY + PREPARATION

That’s the formula.

Serendipity gets the loose ball.

Proximity puts you near it.

Preparation determines whether you know what the to do when it lands in your hands.

Kevin Durant didn’t need to know Hugging Face would eventually become Hugging Face.

He needed to recognize:

This might be a shot worth taking.

That’s entrepreneurship.

That’s investing.

Hell…

THAT’S BASKETBALL.

You don’t know exactly how the possession will develop when you cross half court.

You read.

You react.

You recognize advantages.

You attack space.

And when the defense gives you something…

YOU DON’T HESITATE.

Kevin Durant has spent his entire life doing that on hardwood.

Apparently the Easy Money Sniper just took the same jumper to Silicon Valley.

$250K IN.

ESTIMATED $60M+ OUT.

Somewhere Andre Iguodala is probably sitting there like a point guard after dropping 17 assists:

“I told y’all to run.”

ATHLETIC ENTREPRENEUR TAKEAWAY

Stop asking:

“How much money can basketball pay me?”

Start asking:

“Where can basketball put me?”

Because your biggest basketball payday…

might have absolutely nothing to do with basketball.

KEEP YOUR HEAD UP.

READ THE FLOOR.

RUN THE BREAK.

🏀 ATHLETIC ENTREPRENEUR
The game is bigger than the game.