How Kevin Durant Is Becoming a Billionaire Thanks to This Mindset – You Can Use It Too JJ

There’s a dark statistic that haunts the NBA. 60% of players go broke within just 5 years of retiring. They make tens of millions, then lose it all to lifestyle inflation and terrible investments. But, Kevin Durant did the exact opposite. He consistently turned down safe 5-year contracts to sign short-term deals, embracing the risk only to build a wealth machine that could push him to the billionaire milestone.

How did Kevin Durant pull that off? And more importantly, what can ordinary people like us learn from this financial mindset machine to apply to our own careers and wallets? Let’s break it all down in today’s video. Mindset one, short-term contracts. In 2016, while the entire NBA chose the safety of 5-year contracts, Kevin Durant did something crazy.

He only signed short-term deals for 1 to 2 years. Specifically, he signed [music] a 2-year short-term contract worth $54.3 million, with the second year being a player option, according to ESPN. Why would a superstar reject long-term financial security? The answer lies in his comprehensive vision of the market, as well as that of his manager, Rich Kleiman.

According to the New York Times, about 2 years prior, the league had just locked in a massive television broadcast rights deal worth $24 billion. This record-breaking cash flow promised to skyrocket the salary cap of the entire league in the following seasons. It seems Kevin Durant understood that if you sign for 5 years, your income is fixed.

But, if you sign for 1 [music] to 2 years, you continuously get to renegotiate a new salary at the very peak of the market. In finance, this strategy is based on a concept called asymmetric [music] risk. To put it simply, it’s when you enter a deal where the worst-case scenario, the downside, is limited, but the growth potential, the upside, is limitless.

Kevin Durant knew perfectly well that his skills were in the top 0.1% of the league. So, his risk of losing his job was virtually zero. Therefore, accepting short-term risk allowed him to [music] maximize his income earning potential alongside the market’s upward momentum. Perhaps accepting a little short-term uncertainty opened up the potential to [music] maximize his earnings in the long run.

This uncompromising mindset is actually nothing new. It’s applied by many famous figures when they are at the top of their game. Kevin Durant is also a top-tier star in the NBA. He didn’t wait around for the market to automatically pay him more. He proactively put himself in a position where the market was forced to continuously re-evaluate his true value.

From the outside, this is a very admirable trait to learn from Kevin Durant. He completely believed in his core abilities >> [music] >> and dared to take responsibility for that belief. He didn’t let the fear of instability make him hastily settle for anything less than his worth. But, confidence does not mean being reckless.

Kevin Durant could play this strategy because he possessed a skill set that was incredibly hard to replace. On the other hand, if you only have average skills and you rush to quit your job or demand short-term benefits, then be careful. A normal market might give you plenty of choices, but when turbulence hits, the first person to get cut is usually the one who does not have anything special enough to be kept around.

From Kevin Durant’s multi-million dollar gamble, the lesson for us is actually much simpler. Before thinking about asking for a raise or jumping ship, build yourself a life preserver. >> [music] >> Specifically, an emergency fund large enough to live on for at least 6 months. Because when you see, you don’t have to worry [music] about where next month’s money for rent, food, and utilities will come from, you will have a completely different mindset.

[music] You can turn down a lowball offer, say no to an unworthy job, and calmly wait for a better opportunity. But, having backup money alone isn’t enough. >> [music] >> You also need to know exactly how much you are worth. Don’t just dive into work aimlessly. [music] Look at what you are actually generating, how How revenue increased, how much costs decreased, what results your projects delivered.

Once a year or after a major project, pull out those numbers and ask yourself, given what I’m currently accomplishing, how much will the market pay? That is when you truly start negotiating based on the real value you bring to the table. And once he knew how to value himself, Kevin [music] Durant did something even bolder with his own money.

Mindset two, rejecting cash, choosing equity. In 2007, a 19-year-old Kevin Durant had just entered the NBA. Right away, he stood in front of two giant offers. Adidas rolled out a contract worth $70 million plus a $12 million signing bonus. Nike offered less, >> [music] >> $60 million plus a $10 million signing bonus.

If you only looked at the numbers on paper, the choice was incredibly clear. Adidas paid more, [music] but Durant chose Nike. You didn’t hear that wrong. A 19-year-old player walked away from about $12 million in total immediate value to choose a brand he believed was a better fit for his future. And Durant himself once explained the reason very clearly.

>> But I couldn’t see myself playing my NBA career as a Adidas athlete, and Nike’s always been the supreme brand to me. Not just uh sneakers, but you know, in everything. So, to be a part of that felt deeper than just, you know, a couple extra dollars, so chose Nike. >> This isn’t a story about Durant disliking money.

Quite the opposite, actually. >> [music] >> He was thinking about something that could be worth far more than just money. Nike didn’t give Durant more money at the time, but that was the brand he believed could help him build a much larger image for many years to come. And time has shown just how heavily that choice weighed. Years later, Durant became one of the biggest faces of Nike, and ultimately signed a lifetime contract with the brand, joining Michael Jordan and LeBron James as one of the very few athletes to secure such a deal. Looking back,

Durant’s decision at 19 reveals a highly notable principle. Don’t just ask, “How much [music] am I getting today?” Ask instead, “What could this decision turn into in the next 10 or 20 years?” And that is the exact [music] difference between maximizing immediate rewards and maximizing long-term value.

A few years later, that exact same perspective appeared in a completely different field, investing. As Durant began stepping deeper into the technology world, he was no longer just making money from playing basketball or appearing in commercials. When talking about the appeal of technology companies, Kevin Durant [music] himself admitted the undeniable influence of this industry.

>> Well, I mean, just just the world we live in now. Tech is a huge deal and guys coming in and out of this area a lot to play and you know, they see how much, you know, these startups have affected um the world in general and guys want to be a part of change. >> From then on, through his 35 Ventures Fund, instead of just taking a few million dollars in booking fees to shoot boring commercials, Kevin Durant went straight to knock on the doors of heavyweight technology startups like Coinbase, Postmates, and the sports

platform The Athletic. His message was crystal clear. Don’t pay me in cash, pay me in equity. Beyond just knocking on startup doors, Durant went big in a playground reserved exclusively for the ultra-wealthy, buying a sports team. Instead of blowing cash on supercars or yachts, he quietly purchased a 5% stake in the Philadelphia Union soccer team.

In the United States, pumping money into a sports franchise is basically raising a golden goose because its value almost exclusively goes up and rarely ever drops. You see a familiar pattern here? Why do the ultra-wealthy prefer [music] equity over cash? It’s simple. Cash is actually a type of asset that [music] easily loses its value.

Inflation silently eats away at its purchasing power every single year. It’s like a delicious meal. Once you eat it, it’s completely gone. In contrast, [music] equity represents ownership. It’s a tree. You put in the effort to plant the seed today so you can harvest the [music] fruit for the rest of your life. But hold on.

Hearing this, don’t rush to take all your savings to buy startup shares just yet. Angel investing is a brutally fierce game where the vast majority of startup projects will likely fail before they even get off the ground. Kevin Durant won big because he had a full-blown elite analytical team standing right behind him. And the name Kevin Durant itself was already a media magnet that helped those companies automatically increase in value.

In our position, [music] blindly buying shares without the proper knowledge risks leaving you completely empty-handed. So, what can you do right now? You can absolutely and wisely apply this equity over cash mindset through the 70/30 rule. Every month, try to [music] use only 70% of your income to cover living expenses and build a safe emergency fund.

With the remaining 30% surplus, don’t rush to buy the newest phone for instant gratification. Use it to aggressively collect long-term wealth-building assets with discipline. That could be exchange-traded funds, stocks of secure enterprises, or real [music] estate. Furthermore, this mindset can be applied directly to your career path.

When you are negotiating a job offer, don’t just fixate on the base salary. Try prioritizing landing spots with employee stock ownership plans, performance-based commission [music] structures, or environments that allow you to forge incredibly rare core skills. A salary might help you survive day-to-day, but equity is the true golden key that unlocks the door to financial freedom in the future.

But to reach investment opportunities like that, Kevin Durant couldn’t just stay in one place forever. Mindset three, upgrade your environment, level up your status. Right after the news that Kevin Durant was leaving the Thunder to join the Warriors was announced, social media exploded as videos of fans burning Kevin Durant’s number 35 jersey in Oklahoma City spread like wildfire.

Sports [music] media at the time constantly labeled him as a guy looking for a shortcut to a championship. But, hidden behind that highly controversial transfer was an incredibly sharp economic calculation. Wearing the Golden State Warriors jersey was not merely a professional basketball decision, >> [music] >> but in reality, it was a game-changing move of geographic leverage.

Kevin Durant decided to leave a small market to march straight into the heart of Silicon [music] Valley. Instead of limiting his network to just hanging around the practice facility or the usual sneaker contracts, he started showing [music] up at private dinners with massive investors. Speaking with ESPN, he admitted, “I have mentors like Ron Conway and Ben Horowitz [music] and good friendships with guys like Chris Lyons.

I mean, you just go to dinner with these guys, [music] hang out with them. You start to meet these types of people at games. Clearly, changing [music] your environment is step one. Step two is that you have to truly hustle, proactively go out and socialize and network to squeeze your way in and hold your ground in that elite circle.” And then the results appeared, proving the effectiveness [music] of this new territory.

The moment they planted their flag in the San Francisco Bay Area, Durant and manager Rich Kleiman founded 35 Ventures. Because of this direct access to the technology elite, he got the opportunity to pour roughly $1 million into the food delivery startup Postmates during its early funding rounds. When Uber acquired Postmates in 2020, that investment reportedly brought Kevin Durant an estimated $15 million.

If he had stayed in Oklahoma City, where information and investment market insights are not nearly as abundant as in Silicon Valley, his billion-dollar [music] investment portfolio with names like Coinbase or Robinhood would likely have never taken shape. Kevin Durant’s decision [music] to pack up and leave perfectly illustrated the true essence of the proximity principle.

You are the average of the five people you spend the most time with. When your zip code changes, your surrounding environment automatically upgrades your mindset. In this new environment, the sideline conversations no longer revolved around field goal percentages, but instead they centered around initial public offerings, [music] how to value technology startups, and world-changing trends.

Hanging out with top-tier economic minds, Kevin Durant’s financial mindset was forced to upgrade to keep pace with a much bigger game. It seems like every elevation in status comes with a [music] rather expensive toll fee. With Kevin Durant, the price to pay was a severely bruised [music] reputation, as well as massive pressure from public opinion.

Stepping out of your comfort zone to upgrade your network [music] means that sometimes you have to accept that others will misunderstand you as someone who burns bridges once they cross them. However, this story isn’t meant to encourage you to immediately drop everything and move to bustling economic hubs. The important thing is that you need to know how to filter your social circle and proactively seek out people [music] who are more excellent in your field.

And closely remember the value first outreach principle. Never step in front of a highly talented person and expect them to hand [music] you free opportunities. Start by assisting them with a small aspect of their work, providing a fresh analytical perspective, or sharing useful professional information.

Only when you build natural trust through genuine value, will your status automatically step up to a new level. But Kevin Durant didn’t want to just play the game forever. He wanted to own it. Mindset four, building a self-sustaining system. There is a pretty common reality in the sports and entertainment world. The vast majority of stars, no matter how famous, usually just play a backyard role for media entities.

They sell their images to the press or grind away making content to feed social media platforms. Looking at it from a certain angle, they take on the appearance of hired hands working for the algorithms. However, Kevin Durant and his long-time manager Rich Kleiman chose a completely independent direction. Instead of renting land, they decided to build their own house.

Going all the way back 10 years ago, this duo independently developed a sports media network named Boardroom. They didn’t just stop at doing basic news or simple entertainment podcasts. In fact, the Boardroom ecosystem has participated in massive film projects. One notable example is the Oscar-winning piece Two [music] Distant Strangers.

And the clearest proof of this media power is the ETCS podcast hosted by Kevin Durant himself. Now, whenever he gets annoyed over garbage rumors or wishes or wants to announce a career milestone, Kevin Durant does not even bother relying on the press or ESPN to publish an article anymore. He turns on the microphone himself and speaks straight to millions of fans.

The power to control his image now sits right in his pocket, completely cutting out the risk of being twisted by the media. It’s hard for us to guess 100% of Kevin Durant’s inner thoughts or initial calculations when starting the company. But looking at the practical results, this action set a financial flywheel in motion that seems incredibly smooth.

Durant and Kleiman played a very smart move. They leveraged their personally owned media platform to amplify their voice and build credibility. It was the heavyweight of this brand that helped them gain access to the highest quality venture capital deals extremely early on. After injecting capital, Durant utilized that exact same homemade ecosystem to report the news, creating [music] a promotional launchpad to push the value of those startups sky-high.

And just like that, the businesses grew and they raked in massive profits. And then they took that money to invest in the next series of deals. And you [music] know what? You don’t need to build an entire media conglomerate like Kevin Durant just to create your own flywheel. Start right from exactly what you have right now.

First of all, maintain a solid primary income source from your current job and expertise. This is the foundation for you to have money and stability. After that, dedicate two to three hours every week to build a channel that belongs to you. That could be a newsletter on LinkedIn, a personal blog, or a YouTube channel talking about something you are genuinely great at.

Don’t just think about views or money right at this moment. The thing you are building is credibility. >> [music] >> And when your credibility is strong enough, it starts opening up new opportunities, better consulting projects, larger clients, and higher [music] fee rates. That extra cash earned is then taken to buy shares, invest, or accumulate assets that have the potential to appreciate in value over time.

Use money to build a credible image. Credibility creates opportunities. Opportunities create money to buy assets. Then assets continue to spawn more money. Don’t forever be the person standing on the sidelines watching the game. It’s time for you to personally build a name that forces others to remember you.

Looking at how Kevin Durant built his wealth, one thing becomes crystal clear. Being rich isn’t just about making a lot of money. It’s about turning money into ownership, choices into freedom, and credibility into a wealth-generating machine. Durant dared to bet on himself. He didn’t just hold on to money, but found ways to turn it into assets.

He proactively stepped into environments that helped him think bigger, then built a brand strong enough so that his assets could continue to grow even when he was no longer playing. The truth is, you don’t need to be an NBA superstar earning tens of millions of dollars to start applying these mindsets.

Financial freedom starts from the exact decision to carve out 30% of this month’s surplus income to buy assets, or the fact that you bravely filter out the relationships holding you back. What about your perspective? Out of Kevin Durant’s four financial mindsets above, which one do you find the easiest to apply to your current job? Leave a comment down below and let’s discuss it together.

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