When Kevin Durant joined the Golden State Warriors in 2016, it turned the NBA world on its head.

But the move was far from out of nowhere, according to Warriors forward Draymond Green. Green, appearing on the ‘7pm in Brooklyn' podcast, shared that he had been planning Durant's recruitment for a year:

Said the Warriors star, “When I signed my deal, BJ Armstrong was my agent. The conversation me and BJ had was ‘listen, here's your whole cap table. Here's what it is next year. The cap next year jumps to this. Look who's a free agent next year; KD. Here's what you can take, and y'all still be able to pay him max.'

Green went on to elaborate on the Warriors' recruitment of Durant, “The number was five [years] for 85 [million dollars]. He's like, ‘Alright, write down the number that you want, and I'm gonna go get it.' For some dumbass reason, I was like ‘Alright, 82 [million dollars],' because I didn't understand that even if [the Warriors] don't give me that $3 million, they couldn't take it and give it to [Durant]. I didn't know that at the time.

Green then sums up how it went down the summer before the Warriors chased Durant, “So that was it, that was the whole conversation, a whole summer before KD becoming a free agent.”

Durant played with the Warriors from 2016-19 and helped the franchise win back-to-back NBA championships. While pursuing a third title, Durant tore his Achilles tendon and missed the 2019-20 season before joining the Brooklyn Nets.