Given the their location, not to mention their Larry O'Brien-trophy-canoodling owner Joe Lacob, what I am going to write next is no surprise—it is, in fact, so very Golden State Warriors. When the team's representatives met with Kevin Durant in the Hamptons over the holiday weekend, they provided a virtual reality experience to show him what life would be like in a Warriors jersey.Golden State's front office fancies itself a bunch of deep data-diving basketball sabermetricians from the future, with the venture capitalist Lacob taking credit for thinking outside the box by having two otherworldly shooters shoot three-pointers alongside a player in Draymond Green who not only defies explanation, but was so obviously game-changing that forward-thinking, fail-fast, break-stuff Golden State only realized it might be a good idea to start him when David Lee got hurt. Add in the franchise's Bay Area/Silicon Valley home base, and it makes all the sense in the world that the Warriors are using Jerry West TECH to DISRUPT free agency. So, are you ready for the next three paragraphs? I hope you are, because they are good:In a meeting between the former MVP and one of his six suitors, one that lasted more than two hours and ultimately sealed the deal, Durant looked through a pair of virtual reality goggles and saw his next step.There were shots of the Golden Gate Bridge, footage from the Warriors practice facility, of coach Steve Kerr talking to his team inside the Oracle Arena locker room and even a courtside view inside the building where there had been so much basketball bliss. There was music in the NextVR production, too, a song that had long since become a favorite in the Warriors' circles and, in the end, was quite perfect for the moment."I got a really big team, and they need some really big rings," the lyrics by renowned rapper, Drake, played. "Man, what a time to be alive … Oh you switchin' sides? Wanna come with me?"If you don't read that and immediately close your eyes, kiss your fingertips, and mutter bellissima, what are you even doing with your life?[USA Today]
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