The world of esports has steadily grown more mainstream over the years. Instead of just being a separate part of the entertainment world, esports has become intertwined with different sections across the globe. Namely, traditional sports have become massively involved in the growth of esports. From team owners to players, there has been no shortage of sports celebrities getting involved. One of the most prominent celebrities in the space is NBA and Brooklyn Nets star, Kevin Durant.
Durant is a known video game fanatic, mainly sticking to the Call of Duty and NBA2K franchises. However, Durant is also an investor in esports organization NYXL (previously known as Andbox). Both Durant and NYXL are both based out of New York, which made the match a perfect fit. While Durant is already currently involved with NYXL, he recently went on record to say that he eventually wants to get even more involved in esports; this could potentially result in the Nets star building his own Call of Duty League team.
In a recent interview with David Letterman, Durant spoke about his love for video games, saying that he plays them every day. He also described to Letterman just how far video games have come in a matter of years. “So they have Call of Duty tournaments where they’ll have probably 12-16 teams,” Durant explained. “They’re all there. Yeah, it’s an arena full of people.”
Kevin Durant briefly speaks on Call of Duty esports, and says he wants to build a team one day.
Durant invested in @Subliners parent company NYXL (Andbox) back in 2021. pic.twitter.com/8OnwOdFxAc
— CDL Intel (@intelCDL) June 18, 2022
Letterman continued by asking the NBA star if that’s the part of the esports business he would like to get into. Durant wasted no time in answering — “Oh, yeah. I would definitely wanna do events like that. Build a team. Build a brand in the e-gaming space,” he said. It’s unclear if Durant was explicitly describing a team in Call of Duty, but it certainly seems likely. Durant is a known Warzone fan, having been seen playing with content creators and other professional basketballs regularly. Durant is also clearly aware of the CDL, the professional franchised league for COD, based on his earlier statements.
Perhaps if the CDL were to expand, Durant could join an ownership group and place a bid for an expansion slot. He might have to choose another location than New York, though, as that state is currently occupied by NYXL’s own team, the Subliners. Unfortunately, there’s currently no timetable for possible expansion teams in the CDL, so we’ll have to wait and see if Durant is ever able to follow up on his desire to build a team.
