Jay Williams, a former NBA player turned TV analyst and a close confidant of Kevin Durant, claimed his longtime friend considered all the potential scenarios, though ultimately it was a potential partnership with close friend Kyrie Irving and his appreciation for general manager Sean Marks that made him decide to sign with the Brooklyn Nets.

Via Ian Begley of SNY:

“There were still all the teams on the table and people were asking their opinions on all the teams. So for me, I thought everybody was still on the table. It seemed that way,” Williams said as a guest of ESPN's Zach Lowe in his podcast. “Look I think Kevin thought about, ‘How would 35 look in a New York Knicks uniform? How would 35 look in a Clippers uniform? Was that with Kawhi [Leonard]? What was going to go down? How would it look obviously leaving $57 million on the table to (leave) Golden State? Would the Golden State Warriors ever really be his team? How was that going to be with [Stephen Curry]?'

“I think all of that stuff was stuff that he literally thought about. And I know (Durant's business manager) Rich [Kleiman], for sure, built a whole deck, a whole book, it seemed like with 60 pages, to go through all the different things, all the pros and cons of all the scenarios.”

Williams then proceeded to trickle into the deciding factor, noting Kevin Durant “loves” Marks and how he's able to maneuver a tanking franchise into a suitable playoff contender in a span of four years.

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“The thing that won this over, I think for Kevin…. it was Kyrie [Irving],” said Jay Williams. “I think it was Kyrie, I think it was the franchise. I think it was (Nets GM) Sean Marks. I think it was the way they handled themselves throughout the process. I think it was the way that Sean has maneuvered different schemes from Day One when they traded Thaddeus Young and they got Caris LeVert.”

It seems Durant's interest in the Nets was not only rooted in his desire to play with Irving, but also in the structure the Nets had put in place since hiring Marks in the front office. That combination paved the way for the two perennial All-Stars to team up, while bringing another friend in DeAndre Jordan along for the ride.