“The Kevin Durant Factor” played a pivotal role in the hiring of Steve Nash to become the Brooklyn Nets' new head coach. A lot has been said about Nash's role in convincing Durant to join the Golden State Warriors in 2016, but head coach Steve Kerr noted the two had known each other well before the initial pitch.

“There was an existing relationship before we even signed Kevin,” Kerr told Tim Kawakami of The Athletic. “And you can even look online, I wouldn’t call it a documentary, but some kind of TV show where he interviewed Kevin and you could tell they really hit it off in this interview. I think Kevin has great respect for Steve because he watched him growing up and then played against him late in Steve’s career. There’s an inherent respect. Mutual respect.”

Durant was also plenty candid when speaking of Nash back in Jan. 2017:

“I trust his judgment on stuff,” Durant told Kawakami back then. “He’s always kept it real with me. He wasn’t recruiting me or anything, he just let me know how it is here. …

“I asked him how the guys would feel if I came here. He just said everybody’s selfless, no egos. … Well, everybody has to have a ego, but you know what I mean. Guys don’t really take themselves too seriously. I wouldn’t say he made the decision for me, but he made me feel good about it.”

The Warriors coach admitted he didn't know Nash was in line to become coach of the Nets until Wednesday afternoon when he called him out of courtesy to announce he would be taking a new role in Brooklyn.

“I had no idea until yesterday afternoon and he called me just out of courtesy since he technically worked for us,” Kerr said Thursday morning, roughly an hour after Nash's hiring was announced. “He didn’t need to ask permission, obviously, but he just respectfully called me. And I think (Nets general manager) Sean Marks called Bob (Myers) last night, so he gave us the heads up. But I didn’t see it coming.”

The Warriors boss gave his ultimate nod of approval, vouching for Nash:

“I think it’s great, though. It’s an incredible hire. And Sean Marks and Steve and I were all in Phoenix together,” said Kerr while going back on memory lane. “I was GM and Sean and Steve were both on the team and they were really, really tight. So that part I think is really, really important. That connection. So I’m happy for both of them.”

If Nash can sing the right songs for Durant, the Nets might just have landed the best motivator and a well-decorated one to take Brooklyn into championship contention.