Kevin Durant and Rich Kleiman put money into Hugging Face at seed and Series A. Nvidia just agreed to buy the company for $12.9 billion, per The Information.
Joe Pompliano said he was told Durant put $100,000 into the seed round. Another $150,000 went into Series A. That $250,000 could now be worth more than $60 million.
"That is one of the best athlete investments ever," Pompliano wrote. "And more money than Durant will make playing in the NBA this season."
Kevin Durant and his business partner, Rich Kleiman, invested in Hugging Face's seed & Series A fundraising rounds.
Nvidia just acquired the company for $12.9 billion, and since I'm told Durant invested $100,000 in the seed round and $150,000 in the Series A, he likely made more…
– Joe Pompliano (@JoePompliano) August 27, 2026
Houston will pay Kevin Durant about $43.9 million in 2026-27. The AI check would clear that in one hit. Last season's $54.7 million salary would lose too.
Kevin Durant Bet Early on Open-Source AI
Durant did this through Thirty Five Ventures with Kleiman. Boardroom is their media shop. The basketball brand now sits next to a chip-giant exit.
Hugging Face hosts open-source models and datasets. Think GitHub for AI. It has millions of public models. Annualized revenue sits near $150 million. A $12.9 billion price is roughly 86 times sales.
Nvidia already put $235 million into a 2023 Series D that valued the company at $4.5 billion. Hugging Face later rejected a $500 million Nvidia check that felt too controlling. Now the chipmaker is buying the whole board.
Reuters, Forbes, and CNBC all carried the report. Neither company has confirmed it on the record. The number is still a reported agreement, not a closed filing.
Kevin Durant Still Has to Play the Season
At 37, Kevin Durant is getting closer to the end of his career. He averaged 26.0 points, 5.5 rebounds, and 4.8 assists in his first Houston year, shooting 52 percent from the field and 41.3 percent from three. He played 78 games. An ankle bruise then wrecked the Lakers series.
He told Boardroom he is "on deck" after Russell Westbrook retired. While admitting that the game has evolved and younger players will dominate, the two-time NBA champion will ride until the wheels fall off.
The Rockets are not shopping him. Teams still called. The paycheck is $43.9 million. The Hugging Face paper, if the deal closes, is the louder number.
Kleiman has been Durant's partner since the Oklahoma City years. Thirty Five Ventures chased tech, media, and sports. Most of those bets stay quiet. This one hit the same week Nvidia's name swallowed the business wires.
Pompliano called it one of the best athlete investments ever. That bar includes sneaker empires and team equity. A $250,000 check returning 240-fold belongs in that room.
The post Kevin Durant Turned $250K AI Bet Into Millions With Daring Move originally published on Total Pro Sports.