Kevin Durant on his $150 shoes: 'I'm not an $88 player'

Kevin Durant's signature Nike sneakers used to be much cheaper than they are now. 

The KD2 retailed for $88, while the latest iteration of his shoe, the KD9, goes for $150, according to Nick DePaula of the sneaker site NiceKicks. 

What's up with that? Durant is far from apologetic about his shoe's ascending price tag.

DePaula asked Durant about the change. Durant's reply? “As humbly as I can say it, I’m not a $88 player. I’m an elite player in the league."

Well then! 

The Golden State Warriors' star free-agency signing added that he felt there was no choice but to hike the price of his shoe as his career ascended. Durant was drafted in 2007, won the NBA MVP award in 2014 and is currently among the league's top five players. Early models of his signature Nike sneakers were relatively basic; performance doo-dads have come to mark later versions. 

“On these shoes, you get it all, and for a nice price,” Durant told DePaula. “You get the newest innovation, you get the newest Zoom bag, and you get my story along with it. If you’re a fan of what I do in the game of basketball, this is perfect for you. As I evolved as a player, I knew that the shoes, in order for it to stay on the same course and trajectory [that I was headed], I might have to come up a bit on some of the stuff I said earlier. Hopefully people understand, and I think a lot of people have.”

Durant's new contract with Golden State is worth a reported $54 million over two years. 

That's enough money to buy 360,000 pairs of KD9 sneakers -- or more than 613,000 pairs of the cheaper KD2 model. 

Have something to add to this story? Share it in the comments.