By: Amanda Anderson-Niles
Kevin Durant, Jay-Z to join forces? Jay-Z continues to prove to the his critics that he is indeed a real business man, and with the recent launch of his new extension to the Roc, Roc Nations Sports, the Hip Hop business mogul is already making some real boss moves in the world of sports. Jay has already managed to sign a professional baseball player, WNBA future starlet Skylar Diggins, NFL stars Victor Cruz and newbie star Geno Smith, and more recently it’s been speculated Philadelphia Eagles star DeSean Jackson will also be throwing up the roc very soon. But now it appears Jay-Z may be signing his first NBA star. According to reports, Oklahoma City Thunder front man Kevin Durant has fired his agent and has decided to link up with Jigga. Yahoo! Sports writes:
Oklahoma City Thunder star Kevin Durant is the first NBA All-Star to defect to rapper and mogul Jay-Z’s Roc Nation Sports agency, sources told Yahoo! Sports.
Roc Nation is a newly formed agency that has been aggressively pursuing star players in the NFL, MLB and now the NBA.
Sports Business Journal first reported Durant’s move.
“KD doesn’t want a traditional NBA agent anymore,” a league source with knowledge of his thinking told Yahoo! Sports on Friday night. “He wants Jay-Z to handle his branding. …He had a chance to be with his idol and couldn’t say no.”
Nothing has been confirmed yet by Kevin’s camp, but as we recently reported, folks are not too happy Jay-Z is coming in and scooping up all these high-profile athletes. In just a matter of weeks, he’s managed to snatch up major stars from their not so famous agents. There’s also no official word yet on the status of the investigation surrounding his recent pick up of Geno Smith.
Jigga is not playing any games. I think a lot of these young dudes just wanna sign with Jay-Z because they look up to him. It was very smart for him to start the sports company. Dude is a real hustler.
Agreed. You can tell he really thought all of this through.
LOL. I know those agents are mad.
More will follow. They think Jay-Z can help them expand their brands. Say what you want about Jay-Z, but the man is smart.
And another one. LOL.
He’s such a handsome guy. Sigh…
I see you Kevin.
I see a trend here…LOL.
Jay starts a sports company and all the athletes are dropping their agents. Funny.
Yes.