The Golden State Warriors' front office has long been planning to pursue Kevin Durant and several of their players reached out to him throughout the season.

"Here's the thing that's interesting about Golden State: their players have been recruiting Kevin Durant all year," said Wojnarowski. "It goes back to earlier in the season when the Thunder were struggling. I don't know that Golden State saw them as a peer or as a threat. They weren't playing great. They were in that mid-range in the west.

"Kevin Durant was hearing from guys on the Warriors about 'hey, you can help take the pressure off Steph Curry. We need you.'

"This was when they were running off win after win after win. They had him on their mind. It appealed to him.

"It's text messages, it's a lot of that. But the communication with some of the players of Golden State and Kevin, that's not just starting now."