The Golden State Warriors have enjoyed tremendous success during Joe Lacob’s tenure as team owner, but he is now being accused of ending their dynastic run in pursuit of credit. CBS Sports’ Brad Botkin ripped Lacob for prioritizing the post-Stephen Curry era instead of maximizing their chances of winning with the superstar because he wants more credit than him.
“They’ve spent the last half decade prioritizing post-Steph plans largely at the behest of Joe Lacob, the venture-capitalist owner who likes to see himself as the author of this whole thing and is desperate to prove himself capable of writing an equally successful sequel,” Botkin wrote.
The Warriors have been one of the most successful NBA franchises of the 21st century, winning titles in 2015, 2017, 2018, and 2022. Much of the credit for that has gone to Curry, and Botkin believes Lacob thinks he should be getting more.
“Joe wants credit,” Botkin stated. “And he knows anything that happens while Curry is still on his team is going to be credited, rightfully, to Curry. It smells of the late Bulls GM Jerry Krause saying: ‘Players and coaches alone don’t win championships, organizations do.'”
Former Chicago Bulls GM Jerry Krause wanted more credit for the team’s success in the 1990s. The Bulls won six titles in the decade, and almost all the praise went to Michael Jordan and Phil Jackson. Krause believed he could build another title-winning team without Jordan and Jackson, but failed miserably at the task. The Bulls would never even make the playoffs during his tenure after their departure in 1998.
Does Krause deserve more credit for putting a great team around Jordan? Absolutely, but it is the players and the coaching staff who are ultimately responsible for the success on the court. As a result, they have always been the ones getting the credit.
For example, we talk about Tim Duncan and Gregg Popovich when it comes to the San Antonio Spurs dynasty. Team owner Peter Holt and former GM RC Buford are barely, if ever, brought up. They never tried to put the spotlight on themselves either.
Lacob doesn’t fall into that category, and Botkin believes he doesn’t want his story to end the way Krause’s did. He did get two great opportunities to ensure that wouldn’t be the case, but failed on both occasions.
The Warriors got the second pick in the 2020 NBA Draft and then the seventh pick in 2021. They could have landed two players who could be the franchise cornerstones post-Curry with those picks. Instead of letting the front office and the coaches decide who to pick, though, Lacob is said to have pushed for players he liked.
The Warriors would select James Wiseman with that second pick, and he is seen as one of the biggest busts in recent history. They then selected Jonathan Kuminga with the seventh pick a year later, and he now looks set to be on his way out. It has been reported that head coach Steve Kerr wanted Franz Wagner to be drafted instead of Kuminga. Trey Murphy III was another name brought up in the building, but Lacob wanted Kuminga.
“This is the problem when rich owners get close enough to the cool kids: they think they can be one of them,” Botkin wrote. “Jimmy Johnson walked away from a Cowboys dynasty because Jerry Jones wanted to play GM, and now the Cowboys are the only NFC team who hasn’t qualified for a single conference championship in the last 30 years.
“The lesson?” Botkin added. “Stay in your lane. Sign the checks. Let the basketball people make the basketball decisions. But no, Lacob thinks he’s an NBA scout now. Give Curry an established player for the Wiseman pick and Murphy III over Kuminga and there’s a good chance he has five titles by now with time to still catch Jordan’s six.”
Botkin thinks Kuminga not being shipped out by the Warriors earlier, despite it being obvious that he wasn’t a good fit, was because Lacob didn’t want to admit he got it wrong. His value today is as low as it has ever been, and they are trying to rebuild it before parting ways. It’s just a complete mess.
The Warriors now look set for some rough years once Curry walks away. They have some solid young pieces, but no real difference maker. Lacob might believe he can land one via the draft, but the recent track record suggests otherwise.
This Curry era looks set to end with a whimper as well. The Warriors had acquired Jimmy Butler (without giving up future draft picks) in February 2025 in their quest to return to the top. They were looking great with Butler last season, but Curry then suffered a hamstring injury in the playoffs, which ensured they had no chance of advancing past the Minnesota Timberwolves in the Western Conference Semifinals.
Any hopes of winning a championship this season were then dashed when Butler tore his ACL on Jan. 19. It’s hard to see a scenario now where we see Curry compete for a championship with the Warriors. We’ll always look back at them blowing those opportunities in 2020 and 2021, and wonder what might have been.
