Agent of change?
Durant’s rep may hold key to Knicks landing big star
HOUSTON — If Kevin Durant comes to the Knicks, Steve Mills and James Dolan should send flowers to his agent Rich Kleiman.
Or better yet, how about a job in the organization? Maybe even stock options. After all, Kleiman has the grandest of plans for himself and Durant — to own an NBA franchise. It's no secret he wants to run the Knicks. Kleiman actually tweeted it.
We've been hearing for a while about Kleiman's influence and his push to get Durant to New York. It has reached the point that Durant-to-the-Garden is treated as fait accompli, with Kleiman as a central figure in the seismic shifting move.
Yet there's an obvious follow-up question to this narrative, which is why should an agent — in this case, a native New Yorker and longtime Knicks fan — carry so much weight in such a decision?
In their latest episodes of “The Boardroom” — an ESPN production meant to explain how the rich get richer — Durant and Kleiman provided greater detail to their relationship.
Apparently it was forged while Durant was in a vulnerable place and seeking guidance. The pair met at a Jay-Z concert in 2007, but didn't link up as business partners until 2013.
“I was still just trying to figure out the flow of what I wanted my life to be and how I wanted my career to go,” Durant said. “I just didn't really know when we got together. It was kind of a clean slate and we kind of molded it together.”
Durant had scrapped two agents before Kleiman, who was with Roc Nation and had a background in repping musicians. Together, they inked a $300 million deal with Nike and expanded Durant's investment portfolio to include tech companies in Silicon Valley. Durant is now Kleiman's only client.
“He was going to his third agent. So when you're at that point, no matter how much success he's having in his career, clearly he wasn't equipped to build a business,” Kleiman said. “If you're on your third agent, you're still figuring it out, right? There's been an evolution and I came from my own background in business and have a bit of different journey to get us together. And Kevin had his own journey to get to this place. But I think what hit for us is when we started doing what we wanted to do.”
Durant said he desired a business partnership similar to LeBron James' with his childhood friends — manager Maverick Carter and agent Rich Paul — with trust and camaraderie as the priorities. He had an up-close view of that dynamic while spending time with James during the NBA lockout in 2011.
“Once I was able to get that knowledge from them, I wanted that type of relationship,” Durant said. “Whatever we do business-wise, we'll figure that out. But just the relationship of having somebody you can trust that believes in what you believe in and wants you succeed, I've seen that in Mav and Bron early, when I was 22, 23 years old, and now to kind of have a person like that is – just to see that blueprint was cool.”
The problem with “The Boardroom” is that the subjects are guarded and deliberate. It's more of an on-brand commercial than peeling-back-the-curtain. For instance, there was no mention about Durant's pending free agency in these episodes with James as the guest.
The most entertaining and revealing part of these latest episodes was James explaining how he had to be coaxed by Carter into a 90-minute drive for an endorsement opportunity. James was so ticked off about losing his valuable time, he refused to talk to Carter in the car. But otherwise, we're left to parse through buzz words like “evolution,” “explore” and “journey.” It was interesting to hear Durant reference Kleiman as “we” and “us” when asked about his decision to sign with the Warriors in 2016.
“I knew I wanted to take on another challenge,” Durant said. “But for us, it was stepping into a new chapter. Let's see how much we can conquer this totally, all the way around, not just on the basketball court, but as much as we can do in the community, as much as we can do for our businesses as well and obviously me as a basketball player.”
The Knicks — and most everybody around the league — believe Kleiman can convince Durant they reached their conquered quota and are ready for the next challenge. The big one in New York.