To commemorate the 2010 World Basketball Festival and the 2010 FIBA World Championship tournament, Nike has released some special edition T-Shirts featuring WBF Illustrations of KD. Click on the shirt of your choice to purchase at the Nike store.

Youth/Boy’s Grey (Remember, this one is for KIDS only!)

Continue reading Get Your Kevin Durant World Basketball Festival T-Shirts!

KD will be making an appearance at the Harlem House of Hoops this Saturday night. The Harlem House of Hoops is located at 268 W. 125th Street in Harlem. The event is from 6pm to 8pm.

KD made an appearance at the Harlem House of Hoops earlier this year. Check out his post about the experience HERE.

What’s good everybody? I’m out here in New York City for another week of training camp with USA Basketball before the World Championship in Turkey later this month. I took a train into the city from D.C. last night, so I’m ready to go.

This is going to be a lot of fun. I’m looking forward to competing. I never had a chance to compete for a gold medal before and that’s why I’m going to go out there and play my heart out and have fun. This will be a good little warm-up before going into the regular season, too, so we’re all excited about representing our country as well.

The USA coaching staff actually sent us home from Las Vegas with a FIBA regulation basketball to practice with and I’ve been working out with it every day these last couple of weeks. I’m just trying to get more comfortable with it since it’s a different basketball than what we have in the NBA. The FIBA ball is just bouncier, more slippery and it doesn’t have as much grip as an NBA ball. It’s not what I’m used to. And it’s a little lighter as well. A few more days and hopefully I’ll be good.

I’ve been prepping for the week by working out at home, mostly with Jeff Green and Corey Brewer. We’ve been having some good workouts and they’ve definitely gotten me a lot better these last couple of weeks heading into training camp.

I’m sure you all know I’ll be out here with some of my Thunder family. Me, Jeff and Russell are trying to make the team that will head overseas in a week. We just want to go out there and try to help contribute. It would be cool to see all three of us out there representing the U.S. but we’re just going to play our hardest and by the end of the week, whatever happens, happens. Those guys are my brothers and it would be great to represent out country together. We’ll see what happens.

I’m going to try to get a few more blogs up this week in NYC. We’ll have a lot going on from practices to the World Basketball Festival, so stay tuned!

Fans: Be sure to check out Kevin on Twitter and Facebook.

Interested in catching KD and his USA Basketball teammates take on France at Madison Square Garden for the World Basketball Festival? Get your tickets for the August 15 international basketball doubleheader at Madison Square Garden today by visiting www.ticketmaster.com or www.thegarden.com. You can also order tickets over the phone at 1.800.4.NBA.TIX.

For more information on the World Basketball Festival, check out the WBF Facebook Page.

Check out KD on the covers of SLAM and Bounce Magazines for August 2010. The covers are to promote and commemorate the World Basketball Festival and the FIBA World Basketball Championships. For more info on the SLAM cover check out this post on SLAM Online.

KD recently took a trip to Nike’s Bowery Stadium to meet with the lucky teens taking part in the World Basketball Festival’s Make Something!! Workshops. Check out video from his trip below.

What’s going on everyone? I just arrived in New York City, my second time here in a month! I’m here for some more announcements and appearances that I’ll fill you in on later. But in the meantime I just wanted to catch you guys up on what’s been going on with me.

If you follow me on Twitter and Facebook then you probably saw that I had a good time on my tour through China with Nike Basketball. This was my second time in China but this year was different because both my dad and James Harden came along for the trip and they helped make it a lot of fun. We ran some camps with Nike, taught skills, met a lot of kids and just let everyone know how much hard work it takes to get to this level. It was all about interacting with the kids and letting them know that if they want to reach the NBA they have to work harder than the next person.

Aside from basketball my favorite part of the trip, hands-down, was our visit to the Great Wall of China. It’s more than just a wall, it’s a significant part of history that’s been there for thousands of years. Walking the Great Wall and knowing that not everyone gets this opportunity was such an experience. And it was a good, hard workout, too!

I also had a chance to hang out with some pretty chill panda bears. I swear, they were like humans. That was another highlight of mine.

After China I was back on the road to New York City to help Nike and USA Basketball announce the World Basketball Festival that will take place in Manhattan in mid August, and I’m proud that I was one of the guys who helped them with the announcement.

It’ll be a great chance to make sure fans know all about the World Championships. That’s a main goal, so the World Basketball Festival should be a blast. I can’t wait to play hoops outside in Times Square and I hope everyone else is, too. I know it’s not the Olympics, but hopefully people will get excited for us when we go over to Turkey. We’re all looking forward to that experience.

Also, I’ve been getting a lot of questions as to why I chose jersey No. 5. Well, I took the KG concept: there’s five guys on the floor so I want that number five to represent every guy on the floor. USA Basketball is a team thing. It’s not just me. It’s not just about the point guard or the small forward, it’s about everybody. It’s not about what I can do, it’s about how our team can operate together, so that’s why I picked it.

Well, that’s it for now. I’ll be back tomorrow to talk about what I’m doing in NYC this time around. And then comeback on Thursday, too, when I’ll give my thoughts on the NBA Finals and the NBA Draft that will be held later that evening.

THUNDER UP!

Fans: Be sure to check out Kevin on Twitter and Facebook.

Last week KD was in New York city to help Nike and USA Basketball announce the World Basketball Festival and also introduce the new Nike Hyperfuse shoe and Hyperelight uniform to the world.

The World Basketball Festival, August 12-15, features basketball’s leading brands within the NIKE Inc. portfolio — Converse, the Jordan Brand, and Nike Basketball.

The World Basketball Festival is a uniquely dynamic event, from the moment it tips off with a showcase featuring members of the 2010 USA Basketball National Team on an open-air court in Times Square, to an unprecedented Times Square performance by a surprise musical act, to the final games of the weekend between four of the best teams in the world at Madison Square Garden.

“The World Basketball Festival will be an unforgettable event for the people of New York City and basketball fans around the world,” said Charlie Denson, Nike Brand President. “Every two years we plan to connect the global world of basketball to celebrate the sport while leaving a lasting legacy within the community.”

From Times Square on August 12, the action moves uptown to New York City’s legendary basketball courts at Rucker Park in Harlem, Friday and Saturday, August 13 and 14.

Rucker Park will be home to open-air practices and scrimmages by National Teams from Brazil and Puerto Rico, and training by France, mixed with performances by top international music acts, in addition to a grassroots youth tournament serving as the championships for some of New York’s top summer basketball leagues. Fans will also be invited to participate in clinics here designed to improve training and basketball skills. The two days at Rucker Park will culminate with a special celebration on Saturday, August 14. Details will be provided closer to the day.

The World Basketball Festival concludes Sunday, August 15 with an exciting exhibition double-header featuring the United States taking on France (1 p.m. EDT) and China meeting Puerto Rico (3:30 p.m. EDT) at famed Madison Square Garden.

The exhibition games are being utilized as part of the teams’ preparation for the 2010 FIBA World Basketball Championship in Turkey, August 28 to September 12.

While playing for Team USA KD will wear the new Nike Hyperfuse shoe.

The Hyperfuse is a super lightweight, highly breathable basketball shoe inspired by the street ball games in China. The composite is comprised of a superior stability layer, a breathable mesh layer and a durable outer skin layer all fused together into a unibody composite design. Hyperfuse also revolutionizes the way shoes are built by “fusing” its distinct layers into an engineered composite to provides a level of precision unattainable with traditional cut-and-sew construction. With Hyperfuse, additive overlays are eliminated and engineered zones of support are placed precisely where they are needed. The Hyperfuse’s seamless unibody design helps eliminate potential hotspots and wear points in footwear. And at roughly 12.5 ounces for a size 9, the shoe embodies superior lightweight performance. The design was inspired by Chinese basketball players and their need for shoes that are lightweight, can hold up outdoors, and have great traction/breathability.

Here’s video of Shane Kohatsu and Fred Dojan of Nike’s Innovative Kitchen breaking down the concept behind Hyperfuse

In addition to the Hyperfuse, KD and his Team USA teammates will be wearing Nike’s new Hyperelite uniform as part of their uniform. They are essentially the lightest, most durable uniforms Nike has ever produced. The jerseys have 13 inches less fabric than a typical basketball jersey and the shorts weigh less wet (10.1 oz.) than a normal pair does dry (13.6 oz.).

Here’s a look at KD and Yi Jianlian wearing the new Hyperelite uniforms: