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In the wake of the Grizzlies trading Desmond Bane to Orlando in a June deal that landed them four first-round picks and a first-round swap (in addition to Kentavious Caldwell-Pope and Cole Anthony), league sources say Kleiman indicated that — if he ever were going to trade Morant — it would require serious draft capital in return. And considering the Bane context, one can imagine how that framing was received by rival teams.
Rich Kleiman: You miss coaching, commentating more, you think? Mark Jackson: I would say coaching. And the reason why I would say that because when I'm commentating, I'm commentating what's taking place on the court. When I'm coaching, I'm impacting lives and I'm making a difference and I'm giving birth to something that I may not be able to be part of it when it's over with, but I'm able to identify and say not just look at Steph Curry, the four-time champ. No, look at Steph Curry, the man, the husband, the father. I take pride in that. There are certain guys and I'm 60 years old I still call them coach and I'll never call him Rick Pitino. That’s coach Pitino to me. Rick Pitino is the best coach I ever played for. And I say that with respect. I don't play 17 years. I don't win rookie of the year. I don't go to an All-Star game. I don't have all any of those things if Rick Pitino is not the first coach I ever played for. The dude had me believing I was better than Magic Johnson. I'm on the court believing I'm Magic. I know I'm not better than Magic Johnson, but if you put me on the lie detector test, I would have passed it because he instilled something in me that I'll forever be grateful.
The restaurant, located at 205 E. Third St. in the old J. Prime location, is a collaboration between Durant and partner Rich Kleiman's Boardroom Hospitality, Airbnb co-founder Joe Gebbia and Lobos Hospitality — the Austin-based team behind retro diner Toasty Badger on South Congress Avenue, sandwich shop Manny's and cocktail bar the Powder Room, both located downtown.
Rich Kleiman: Any info or any thoughts around expansion? Shams Charania: NBA Europe is as far as I understand much closer along and that's really in process here over the next two, three years getting that finalized. My feel is that NBA expansion probably trickles closer to after that than it is in junction or before that. I don't I don't have a time period, if I say five years I don't want to be aggregated at that. But I think once it starts trickling into like ownership conversations and the owners are meeting about it and GMs are starting to meet about it, then to me it becomes like, okay, we might be two, three years away and we're not at that point.
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Rich Kleiman: “I think for Kevin, probably in a lot of ways, those were the best three years of his career. Two championships, two Finals MVPs. Obviously, his decision to go to Golden State came with a lot of... and still to this day, comes with a lot of drama. And him leaving? That brought a whole new wave of it. And actually, at this past trade deadline — we’ve spoken about it openly — there was interest in him going back to the Bay. But I think he felt, and I agreed, that it just wasn’t right. I really respect the Warriors for how they handled it. They gave us the space to have those conversations, let us talk through why we didn’t think it made sense, and they didn’t push it any further. That right there? That’s a testament to the kind of relationships we built when we were in the Bay.
Shams Charania: BREAKING: Houston Rockets star Kevin Durant has agreed to a two-year, $90 million contract extension with the franchise, his business partner and Boardroom CEO Rich Kleiman tells ESPN. The new deal includes a player option in 2027-28.
NBA mega star Kevin Durant has regained access to his Coinbase account, the crypto exchange giant confirmed to Decrypt via email on Thursday. During a wider discussion of Durant's business interests on Tuesday at CNBC’s Game Plan conference in Los Angeles, the player's agent, Rich Kleiman, made light of his client's inability to log into the account he opened nearly 10 years ago.
In a statement forwarded to Decrypt from Coinbase, Kleiman said that he and Durant had "been working directly with the Coinbase team on Kevin's account recovery, which was why it was easy" for him "to make a joke about it on stage." "It was a user error on our end, and the process has been clear from the jump," he said. "Our partnership spans nearly a decade, and Coinbase has been a valuable resource in growing our business.”
Kleiman revealed that the former Oklahoma City Thunder man logged into Coinbase and bought bitcoins after a conversation at businessman Ben Horowitz’s dinner after he moved to the Bay Area. But no one ever bothered remembering the password to his account. “At the end of that night, I was like, ‘Kevin, I just heard the word bitcoin 25 times this evening,’ and the next day, we started investing in bitcoin,” Kleiman stated. “Fortunately, we’ve yet been able to track down the Coinbase account info, so we’ve never sold anything…”
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There is every chance that Durant has tens of millions sitting in a place he cannot even access. Not that he needs it desperately, or that he sees it as a bad thing, as Kleiman further explained. “His [Durant’s] bitcoin is just through the roof,” the 48-year-old continued. Ironically, they have a partnership and investment in Coinbase, but still don’t have access to their own assets, something that the host of the interview pointed out. “We really don’t have it. There’s just a process we haven’t been able to figure out, but Bitcoin keeps going up, so it’s like, what’s the problem? I mean, it’s only benefitted us.”
Law Murray: Kevin Durant says that he hasn’t put a number on how many more years he wants to play, but he and Rich Kleiman have started to consider what retirement would look like, with the consideration that Durant wants to play as long as he can and is having fun #GamePlan25 @boardroom
Kevin Durant says that he hasn’t put a number on how many more years he wants to play, but he and Rich Kleiman have started to consider what retirement would look like, with the consideration that Durant wants to play as long as he can and is having fun #GamePlan25 @boardroom pic.twitter.com/WOJjKiuArM
— Law Murray ❓ (@LawMurrayTheNU) September 17, 2025
Boardroom, the media brand focused on the intersection of sports and business co-founded by Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman, has inked a film and TV partnership with SMAC Entertainment, the production company and talent management firm co-founded by Michael Strahan and Constance Schwartz-Morini.
The companies already have three projects in development: Buckets: The Evolution (and Revolution) of the Scorer in the NBA, a 4-part docuseries that will take viewers on an immersive journey through the history of the scorer in the NBA, featuring the greatest scorers in NBA history as well as celebrities with ties to the game; Taylor Made, a documentary feature exploring the life, death, and enduring impact of Sean Taylor, one of the NFL’s most iconic players, executive produced by Taylor’s daughter Jackie and producing partners Gabriel Diaz and Johnny Sweet; and a documentary feature on the famed “Summer of Basketball” during the 2011 NBA lockout, produced in partnership with Josiah Johnson and Aron Phillips.