DeAndre Jordan Says Kyrie Irving 1st Talked Teaming Up with Kevin Durant in 2016

DeAndre Jordan said Kyrie Irving first raised the idea of forming their own star-studded trio with Kevin Durant during the 2016 Summer Olympics in Brazil when they were all members of the gold-medal-winning USA basketball team.

"Hey, this would be cool to do for real," Irving said near the end of the tournament, Jordan told ESPN's Jackie MacMullan for an article Tuesday looking into the Brooklyn Nets' blockbuster offseason.

"I asked him, 'What you mean by that?'" Jordan said, "and Ky said, 'Let's all get on the same team and play together.'"

Although the plan didn't come to fruition immediately, they remained in constant contact via text message, per MacMullan.

"The brotherhood was real, but circumstances kept us apart," Irving said.

Finally the opportunity arose this past summer with all three players hitting the free-agent market at the same time, and the two-time NBA All-Defensive First Team selection said they concurred it was time to act.

"We all agreed," Jordan said. "We gotta do this."

In July, the Nets signed Irving and Jordan to free-agent contracts while acquiring Durant in a sign-and-trade deal with the Golden State Warriors that sent D'Angelo Russell to the Dubs.

The wait to actually play together in the NBA is still on hold, though. Durant suffered a ruptured Achilles during the 2019 NBA Finals with Golden State and is expected to miss the entire 2019-20 season.

Irving has come out firing on all cylinders by averaging 37.7 points through his first three games with the Nets. Though there are some solid secondary contributors around him, led by Caris LeVert, Spencer Dinwiddie and the center tandem of Jordan and Jarrett Allen, it's probably not enough to contend.

The hope in Brooklyn will be the group is able to lay the foundation so that when Durant is ready to roll next season, they can vault straight into championship contention.

It could put the Nets on a path toward the 2021 title five years after the initial plan was hatched.