ESPN's Brian Windhorst stole the show on First Take last week with an epic monologue that left his peers on the desk speechless and sent social media into a firestorm of speculation. It all began when Windhorst questioned why the Utah Jazz would trade one of their best defenders in Royce O'Neal in, effectively, a salary dump move.

In a statement taken straight out of an NBA conspiracy theory, the ESPN NBA reporter went on to subtly allude to the Jazz making a big move, which they did later that day, sending star center Rudy Gobert to the Minnesota Timberwolves in a blockbuster deal.

Now a viral meme on social media, Windhorst spoke about the epic moment, revealing his thought process behind it while on the Brian Windhorst and Hoop Collective podcast, per Sports Illustrated.

“It really became more popular as a meme than actually what I said,” Windhorst said. “Look, I knew the Jazz were pretty close to trading Rudy Gobert. To be honest with you, part of what I was doing was trying to do was avoid aggregation. Because if I come out and go I think the Jazz are going to trade Rudy Gobert today, then everything on the internet is ‘Windhorst Report: Jazz trade Gobert.’ And then maybe they don’t trade him.”

Windhorst said that he “knew the Jazz were pretty close to trading Gobert” but that he wanted to avoid aggregation. Basically, the ESPN reporter didn't want his First Take appearance to sound the alarm to other media outlets and teams about what the Jazz could be doing.

The NBA reporter in Windhorst also likely wanted to find out if his sources and reporting were on track, which they were.

And that's how a legendary moment was born.