When the trade was announced last July, Pacers athletic trainer Dr. Josh Corbeil fired off a text to David West about the new acquisition.
"I swear I've known about that kid for 10 years," it read.
It was more like eight if we're going to nit-pick, but it probably seemed like a decade to Corbeil. Throughout his four seasons with the Pacers, during all those hours in the training room getting an ankle wrapped or receiving treatment for this sprain or that strain, West was constantly hyping this young kid coming up through his AAU program in North Carolina.