Okay, okay. So you don’t love Kevin Durant anymore since he dumped the Oklahoma City Thunder for more money and a chance for an NBA championship ring with the Golden State Warriors.
But the former Oklahoma City and one-time fan favorite in the state is using his millions to create business opportunities in technology. At 29, Durant has committed $10 million and partnered with the Prince George’s public schools in Washington D.C. It’s a program called College Track, one created 20 years ago in California by Powell Jobs.
The program is meant to help disadvantaged kids attend college. Durant once was one of those ‘kids’ and eventually ended up playing basketball for the University of Texas.
“What I love about tech is, I love watching the world advance,” said the 29-year-old star of the Golden State Warriors, who invests through his Durant Co. “I love the connections of people on Facebook, Snapchat, Instagram, Twitter. I would look at it like (Cornelius) Vanderbilt, who built the railroad. He connected us. The next advancement connecting us to each other is social media. I want to be part of that.”
It’s what he recently told the Washington Post.
His interest in technology connected him to Laurene Powell Jobs and has led to a new philanthropic venture.
But Durant, whose name once graced a Bricktown restaurant in Oklahoma City has started a program to do more to help students. He created the Durant Center in Seat Pleasant, Maryland where he grew up. The 60 students in the program have to climb the life-ladder themselves.
“I want them to see the world,” Durant said in a phone interview with the Post. “I want them to see where people are from and see that there are things outside their world. I don’t know exactly or at what pace that they will get it, but there is a world outside that they need to see.”
Durant’s $10 million will seed construction and operating expenses of a local chapter of College Track, which is scheduled to open this year.
