Now under contract with Houston for up to five seasons, Rockets point guard Kevin Porter Jr. is introducing a new business venture aimed at enhancing his connections with Rockets fans and beyond.
Sukuta, Japanese for “scooter,” is a behind-the-scenes access pass aimed at giving fans a window into Porter’s inner circle and his daily journey as a starting player in the NBA.
“When I was younger, before I was crawling, my aunt saw me scooting on my back,” Porter said on a newly released podcast episode of The Lager Line. “She called me Scooter.”
Scooter, or Scoot, took off quickly as Porter’s personal nickname. The Japanese version of that nickname is because Japan is widely known as the birthplace of anime, which has become an off-court passion for Porter. He said he’s particularly drawn to the “Naruto” anime series with Itachi Uchiha as his alter ago.
Porter is excited to use Sukuta to reach out to his fans near Houston — where he’s played the last three seasons — and to engage with Rockets fans and basketball enthusiasts globally as well.
“I basically wanted to create another way to interact with my fans and just the community of Houston,” Porter told Ben DuBose. “Having that access to me, an NBA player, a lot of people didn’t have that growing up. I didn’t have that until I got to be good enough (as a player) to be around them. You’ll be able to probably play video games with me, have meet and greets, get some winning collectible gifts, or my signature shoe. It’s just a bunch of fun things for the fans and to be able to interact with the community.”
With the brand, Porter is looking to create a core community with the launch of digital and high-fashion collectibles, along with collaborations with sponsors and staple brands. Porter says his passion for art is a key motivating factor for the project, which was established with a mission statement of changing the conversation between athletes, fans and those organizations in between.
“I get a chance to basically connect with the fans and relate to them, and I can express myself, and the things I like,” said Porter, now 22 years old and in his fourth NBA season. “Art is one of the big things. It’s showing that I’m a designer. I create. I like art, I’m artistic, so that’s one of the things you’ll see on the website. A bunch of digital collectibles. We have some early access for (people) there now.”
The platform will be used as a hub for fans to meet with Porter and engage with him in multiple ways, including a specialized Discord channel for live game-watching experiences and postgame reaction. In the future, this could involve interactions with Porter, himself.
“It’s a live chat, basically,” Porter explained. “When I’m playing, you can watch the game by being there. There’s also a slot on Discord where sometimes I come in to chat and interact with fans. There’s so many different ways to have access and interact with me, and be a part of what we’re building. Sukuta is going to be a dope way of building that community base within our brand.”
More information is available at Sukuta.io, and the brand also has its own pages on Twitter and Instagram. The complete podcast interview can be listened to below.
