The Warriors will reportedly meet with Kevin Durant on Friday in The Hamptons.

But the recruitment process apparently began months and months ago.

The Vertical's Adrian Wojnarowski said the following on a recent podcast:

[POOLE: Warriors knocking on Durant's door, ready to make dream a reality]

"Here's the thing that's interesting about Golden State -- their players have been recruiting Kevin Durant all year. And it goes back to early in the season when the Thunder were struggling. And I don't know if Golden State saw them as a peer; I don't know that they saw them as a threat ... Kevin Durant, just like he was hearing from guys in Boston, Washington, different places -- he was hearing from guys on the Warriors about, 'Hey, you can come help take the pressure off of Steph Curry. We need you.' This is when they were running off win after win after win.

"They had him on their mind. He's been on their mind. And it appealed to him. And some of it was text messages, it's a lot of that. But the communication with some of the players in Golden State and Kevin, that's just not just starting now."

Durant and the Thunder led the Warriors 3-1 in the Western Conference Finals. But Golden State rattled off three straight wins to advance to the NBA Finals for the second straight year.

[REWIND: Durant: 'We all knew' NBA wasn't going to suspend Draymond]

Wojnarowski also relayed the following story:

"I talked to Draymond Green earlier in the year. We were talking hypothetically about a big free agent. Hey listen -- what player there (in Golden State) would have more to lose if you were looking at it from a selfish point of view, than Draymond Green? He's the third guy, he's still an All-Star. Well, he'll become the fourth guy with Kevin Durant.

"Are you gonna take four All-Stars from Golden State? If Kevin Durant comes, does Draymond Green remain an All-Star? Maybe he does, but maybe not. Would there be less offense for Draymond? Yeah, there's gonna be less offense for everybody.

"Yet Draymond has been as adamant as anybody, 'If we can get Kevin Durant, let's get Kevin Durant, because you know why? We will win.'"



