The Golden State Warriors weren't always a dynasty.

Before his team won the first of an incredible four titles in eight seasons, Bob Myers needed to help Golden State evolve from plucky playoff upstart to a true championship threat. How'd he do it? Capitalizing on the Warriors' first playoff berth in five years by pushing their trade chips in for Andre Iguodala in the summer of 2013, a move that risked mortgaging Golden State's future before anyone knew just how good Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green really were.

As Myers told Clay Skipper of GQ in an interview, though, trading a pair of unprotected first-round picks to bring in Iguodala was the type of “transformational” moment he knew could spark something special with the Warriors' young core.

“When we traded for Andre Iguodala [in 2013], we had to give up some salary, and we traded two unprotected first round draft picks. That's a big gamble. You don’t see that happen much anymore,” Myers said. But we decided as an ownership group that this player and this opportunity is one where we have to assume the risk. That was a hugely pivotal moment to get a good player like Iguodala. I often talk about that moment as transformational. Up until that point, we hadn't had any free agents want to come to our team. Andre was a pretty big free agent at the time. It was a statement that the Warriors are now at the table. It was worth the risk to do it.”

Iguodala had just helped guide the Denver Nuggets to a franchise record 57 wins after heading West from the Philadelphia 76ers as part of the blockbuster four-team trade that sent Dwight Howard to the Los Angeles Lakers the previous summer. The Warriors proved too much for Denver in their first playoff appearance since 2007, though, ousting the third-seeded Nuggets from the first round in six games.

Iguodala, a pending free agent, left that series supremely impressed with Curry and company. The pair even shared a hushed on-court chat after the Warriors eliminated the Nuggets during which many believed Iguodala expressed his interest in joining Golden State.

He was signed-and-traded to the Warriors just over two months later, the first of many “transformational moments” that helped usher in their ongoing dynasty—one that Iguodala, even though he's more cultural tone-setter and locker-room mentor than nightly impact player, remains a crucial part of in his NBA swan song.