Major League Pickleball has been racking up celebrity team owners, with a number of top athletes from the worlds of basketball, football and tennis getting involved. The latest elite athlete to join the likes of LeBron James and Tom Brady is Nets forward Kevin Durant, who is buying a team along with business partner Rich Kleiman through their company Thirty Five Ventures.
35V’s expansion team is set to begin play in 2023.
Pickleball is one of the nation’s fastest-growing sports. It combines aspects of tennis, badminton and ping-pong on outdoor badminton-sized courts. Major League Pickleball started play in 2021.
MLP founder Steve Kuhn is very excited to have Durant and 35V in the fold, citing the company’s history of team ownership in the league’s release on their entry into the mix.
“Kevin Durant, Rich Kleiman, and 35V are going to be game-changing partners for Major League Pickleball,” said Kuhn. “They not only bring passion for the game, but also unrivaled expertise to help us to continue to grow. We’re especially excited about their plans to bring pickleball to underserved communities—something they have done with basketball for years.”
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The 35V group joins a number of other significant ownership groups as the MLP sets its eyes on expansion. Last week, Brady and tennis great Kim Clijsters joined as part of a Knighthead Capital Management group in buying a team. LeBron James, Maverick Carter, Draymond Green and Kevin Love bought in on another team, while Drew Brees and former tennis star James Blake are also league owners and partners.
MLP is set to grow from 12 to 16 teams in 2023, doubling its number of annual events to six, and will give out more than $2 million in prize money.
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