Roc Nation Sports, the sports agency launched by Jay-Z and Roc Nation in collaboration with CAA early this past April, has announced its signing of NBA superstar Kevin Durant.
Durant — a three-time NBA All-Star who averaged 25 points per game in his college career — and Roc Nation posted the photo above, concurrently to their Instagram and Twitter accounts, as well as an official notice on the Roc Nation Sports website. The original photo included a quote from Durant, who said: “Grateful for this opportunity with Roc Nation Sports. It’s go time.”
The Jay-Z’s quote ran with the photo said the following: “He has a 90,.5% free throw shooting rate, the youngest player in NBA history to join the 50-40-90 club, a giving individual, and a legend in the making, what more can i say?” The “50-40-90 club” referred to — not to be confused with Jay-Z’s 40/40 club — is a player’s shooting percentage from the floor, 3-pointers and free throws.
In the three months since it’s founding, Roc Nation Sports has signed three other athletes; the New York Jets quarterback Geno Smith, WNBA draftee Skylar Diggins and Yankees second baseman Robinson Cano, the company’s inaugural client.
Speaking to Billboard around the time of Roc Nation Sports’ launch, ESPN the Magazine senior editor Keith Reed said of Jay-Z’s prospects in the field that “entrepreneurs have their first acts… and if they’re really successful and transformative, then they get a second act.” Though he was officially licensed as a sports agent just four days ago, the signing of Durant would seem to be the doorway between acts one and two for Mr. Carter’s new career.
