Video via South Morning China Post
Kevin Durant isn’t just a superstar in America. He’s going global.
In the midst of the craziest month of his life, Durant is currently touring China, promoting his shoes and his Nike KD brand to a country who has fallen in love with the sport of basketball.
This is why Durant and his business people are smart: Kobe Bryant has been the most popular athlete in China for five straight years. More than 110 million people in the country watched the last game of his Lakers career. With Bryant’s retirement, the Chinese are looking for the next great basketball player to latch onto. Durant is trying to claim that spot.
“I thought I was famous until I got [to China] with Kobe,” LeBron James said prior to the 2008 Olympics in Beijing.
Durant will hold basketball clinics all around China, in Hong Kong, Guangzhou and Taipei. The trip overseas says a lot about his work ethic. Durant doesn’t mind juggling a ton on his plate, and is comfortable in his own skin while thousands of starstruck people gawk over him.
“You don’t know how big the world is until you actually go and see different cultures and see different people,” Durant said via Nike.com “I think that feeling is what makes this whole thing special.”
Durant’s globalization is only beginning this summer. With LeBron opting to sit out the Olympics, Durant will be the face of Team USA in Brazil. Warriors teammates Draymond Green and Klay Thompson will join him in Rio. Team USA will also hold a scrimmage against China at Oracle Arena on July 26.
Making money is obviously a factor in his China tour, too. According to Nike, two new KD9 colorways, the KD9 Unlimited and KD9 Birds of Paradise, will be released in August.