Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving discuss how their friendship developed before joining the Nets

Kevin Durant and Kyrie Irving are hoping to become the newest deadly NBA duo next season, and the two discussed how their bond formed before they teamed up to join the Brooklyn Nets last summer.

On the debut episode of The ETCs with Kevin Durant podcast, Irving and Durant discussed how their friendship began with their mutual admiration of each other's skills on the court.

"I felt the relationship grew just off of straight-up respect before we even started having conversations," Durant explained. "It was just a respect for who he is as a man and that mutual respectful for how we came up as men and our journeys to this point."

Durant said their shared love of basketball was so strong that they began FaceTiming every day and eventually they realized that they wanted to play together at some point in their careers. That dream became a reality when Durant left the Golden State Warriors and Irving left the Boston Celtics to team up in Brooklyn. 

Irving agreed with Durant, saying that the two "pushed each other" and had a connection that went beyond a typical friendship.

"And it's like we have our way of living life but like I said, the synergy is connected to who we are as people first," Irving said. "And then the respect of what we do on the court as artists comes out in the way we play. And when we look at it as like, man, we're playing pickup and I'm like, man, I'm glad I got that guy on my team right there."