Fans often complain about the rising costs of sneakers.  While Kevin Durant was in Austin for the KD 9 Launch Experience, someone asked him about his sneakers being more expensive.  He had a blunt but funny answer.

via BallisLife:

The original Nike KD 1, with Zoom Air Cushioning, were released in 2009 with a retail price of $88, and the latest, with flyknight technology, carries a $150 retail price tag.

“As humble as I can say it, I’m not a $88 player.” Answered Durant. “I’m an elite player in the league. I wanted everything to be affordable but I knew we had to sacrifice some stuff and I just wanted the fans and the brand to be patient with me and who I am as a player and the level I was trying to go to. With these shoes, you get it all for a nice price.”

His statement about the price, which is $30 less than the KD8, backs up what he said a few months earlier at the Innovation Summit

Via SneakerNews

I always wanted my shoes to be affordable, but as I got older and my game started to change, I knew I needed a shoe to fit my game and there’s that compromise of going up in pricepoint. But now as you get into the KD 9, you get a $250 shoe for $150!

That’s a great bargain right there. You know last year’s shoe was $180 and there was a lot of technology in there, but for this one for $150, you can’t beat that. Nike did such a great job of bringing the idea and of course I was like “let’s do it”, so hopefully people love it.

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You can fast forward to the 4:35 mark.