When Kevin Durant informed the Warriors that he would be signing with the Brooklyn Nets, Bob Myers had to act fast.
The Warriors general manager didn't want to lose one of the best players in the game for nothing, so he sprang into action, orchestrating a sign-and-trade that saw All-Star guard D'Angelo Russell sent to the Dubs in exchange for Durant.
The sign-and-trade was a complicated maneuver that had a high probability of failure with such little time for completion and so many people needing to sign off.
"So for that to happen, obviously one thing, Kevin has to leave," Myers told 95.7 The Game's "Bonta, Steiny and Guru" on Monday at Warriors Media Day. "Two, you got to get Brooklyn to cooperate and Kevin to cooperate in a four-hour window of time. You need D'Angelo to say, 'Yeah, I'll come." He had other offers. A lot of times that's like a three-team trade, they just don't happen.
"Somebody in that equation goes, 'I don't want to deal with this.' Because no one really had to -- well, Brooklyn didn't have to do it and Kevin didn't have to do it. So when you have a situation like that and you are trying to hold all these things up, it's very easy for somebody to say, 'I'm tired of this, why would I do this?' The hardest part, to be honest, was [Russell] wanting to come. Not knowing that. For his situation, once Kyrie and Kevin said they were going there, he knew that his days there were done. So he was probably looking around the league, for him to say, 'I want to go play there.' That's flattering for our organization."
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The Warriors now will enter the next phase of their franchise after a dynastic five-year run that saw them win three titles and go to five straight NBA Finals.
During the summer, the NBA landscape changed, with anywhere from six to 10 teams now having a legitimate shot at winning the NBA title. The Western Conference saw an influx of talent and the Warriors will be relying on Russell to help Steph Curry and Draymond Green survive in the rough and tumble West, especially with Klay Thompson out until at least the All-Star break with a torn ACL.
Myers pulled off a minor miracle in bringing in Russell in exchange for Durant. Now it's up to him, Curry and Green to make sure the good times keep on rolling in the Bay Area.
