Trae Young recently made a rather big announcement on Instagram. Investing money in the sport of ‘Pickleball’, the Atlanta Hawks guard is now the co-owner of the Atlanta Bouncers, a team in the Major League Pickleball. However, he isn’t the only NBA star to invest his money in Major League Pickleball. In fact, just 11 months ago, a $300,000,000 NBA superstar invested in a Pickleball team as well, as per NBA.com.
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Nowadays, NBA players investing in franchises of different sports is nothing surprising. For instance, LeBron James owns a significant stake in Liverpool, a prestigious English Soccer club. Many superstars have even been making moves as well to potentially invest in NBA franchises once they retire from the league.
With the amount of money the top athletes now receive from their contracts and endorsements, it is quite possible for them to co-own NBA teams. Dwyane Wade proved exactly that after becoming a minority owner of the Utah Jazz.
Kevin Durant is set to own a Major League Pickleball expansion team
Pickleball originally started off as a casual sport anyone could pick and play. However, it soon turned into a trend. And before anyone knew it, the sport grew in popularity to a level that it demanded its own pro league.
Having seen this growth ahead of most others in the NBA, Kevin Durant chose very early on to invest in the league. However, the $300 million superstar wasn’t willing to just invest in a current team. Instead, he joined his team, ‘Thirty-Five Ventures’, to work towards investing in an expansion team.
Hoping to build a winning team from the ground up, the following was the statement ’35V’ made, as per NBA.com.
“35V is committed to investing in the future of sports and emerging opportunities, and Major League Pickleball is a league we are incredibly excited about… We can’t wait to build this team from the ground up as well as work to elevate the sport and the league to unprecedented heights. As an avid pickleball player and fan, the interest in the sport was a natural fit.”
Further, Kevin Durant himself also admitted, as per ‘The Boardroom‘, that he plans to be an active owner in the league.
“[Pickleball] was a small passion that’s just gonna keep building … We’re gonna be operating this ourselves, being tasked with building this brand from the ground up… It should be a fun project.”
From every side, it appears that KD is beyond excited about the project. And given that Trae Young has dived into Major League Pickleball hype right with him, it’s likely he feels more enthusiastic about his investment.
Other NBA players have invested in Major League Pickleball too
NBA players earn quite a bit of money during their time in the NBA. So, they always seem to be on the lookout for investment opportunities. As it turns out, Kevin Durant and Trae Young aren’t the only ones who have thought of investing in Pickleball.
LeBron James was one of the first in the NBA to have made the decision to put money into Major League Pickleball. Along with him, stand players like Draymond Green and Kevin Love as well.
With the wave of support behind the sport at the moment and the rate of the MLP’s growth, it is likely it will only grow bigger as the years roll on. Perhaps one day, it could even be as big as the NBA.
