OKLAHOMA CITY-Two days before the start of basketball team Oklahoma City Thunder's season, something else was launched as construction began on KD's, a restaurant in which Thunder Player Kevin Durant has a 25% stake. The 10,000-square-foot, $5 million eatery is slated to open during fall, 2013 and features what's been described as an "upscale Southern cuisine" including chicken satay, popcorn lobster, honey-dipped fried chicken, center cut pork chops, blackened catfish stuffed with crab meat and shrimp, slow-smoked barbecue ribs and jambalaya.

KD's will be located in Lower Bricktown, a part of Oklahoma City's Bricktown project. Lower Bricktown is being developed by Randy Hogan. Developer Hogan is in partnership with Hal Smith Restaurant Group and K. Durant Restaurant Group LLC to build the restaurant.

Smith already has a presence in the Lower Bricktown area; his company operates Toby Keith's I Love This Bar and Grill, which is near KD's site.

According to local media news reports, Durant plans to personally test all the menu items himself. An article in the Daily Oklahoman also noted that Durant planned to use the restaurant as a place where he could eat with his friends. The article also noted that Durant saw the restaurant as an opportunity to promote Oklahoma City. “I've seen the city grow the last four to five years, and I thought this would be great way to add to that,” Durant said in that interview. “I've been to different NBA cities; I saw Amare Stoudemire's restaurant (Amare Stoudemire is a forward with the New York Knicks basketball team) and I got a little jealous.”

Spanning approximately 10 city blocks along the Bricktown Canal, Bricktown was once a neglected warehouse district and now offers dining and entertainment options including the Bricktown Ballpark (home of a minor league baseball team) as well as national, regional and local bars, restaurants and nightclubs. The development is also a stone's throw from the Chesapeake Energy Arena, home to the Oklahoma City Thunder.