Kevin Durant has dropped Seattle-based Aaron Goodwin of Goodwin Sports Management (GSM) as his NBA agent. It appears that Jason Whitlock was the first to report on the rumor of Durant’s decision to leave Goodwin, and followed up with a Tweet that Candace Parker may be the next high-profile athlete to leave the firm that has represented Jason Kidd, Paul Pierce, LeBron James, Jamal Crawford, Rodney Stuckey, Al Horford, and Dwight Howard at one point of each of their careers, only to lose them to rival agents. Read that sentence again and allow it to soak in for a second. Goodwin has represented almost two All-Star teams worth of players, who have all left him. I wish that I could somehow explain the diaspora, but I have nothing to provide as a cause to substantiate the movement of players away from GSM.
Oklahoma City Thunder beat writer, Darnell Mayberry, confirmed that Durant has parted ways with Goodwin. And the Associated Press quoted Durant, who was appreciative of what Goodwin had done for him, but said, “it was time for me to move on.” That same article states that Durant’s brother, Tony Durant, will help in the process of selecting a new agent.
Durant was a GSM client since stepping foot onto an NBA court. Goodwin did not only negotiate Durant’s NBA contracts, he also found and negotiated Durant’s deals off the court, including his 7-year, $60 million deal with Nike. GSM, through employee Nate Jones, also helped Durant build a strong social media presence.
