The Golden State Warriors are at something of a crossroads. The reigning NBA champions were able to win a title last season with minimal contributions from the trio of James Wiseman, Moses Moody and Jonathan Kuminga.
But it’s evident the “two timeline” plan has not worked out as hoped. Wiseman is now gone and both Moody and Kuminga are averaging fewer than 20 minutes per game, with Moody sometimes falling almost completely out of the rotation.
At the same time, the organization will have major decisions coming up on potential Klay Thompson and Draymond Green extensions. That hinges largely on what Green decides to do with his $27.6 million player option this offseason.
With all of this in the air, general manager Bob Myers’ status is in the air. His contract is expiring in July and no new deal has been reached. There are rumblings he may leave.
The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami, despite all that, thinks Myers will want to stick around.
He joined Tolbert & Copes on Wednesday saying that while there is a very real possibility Myers departs, his gut tells him he’ll stick around. The money, of course, has to be right.
“The money is going to sort of decide that,” Kawakami said. “If you are committed to Bob Myers being the number one guy, [Lacob] will pay him at the top of the market. And according to all good reporting by Marcus Thompson, Sam Amick and Anthony Slater, guys I sort of know a little bit, they have not offered him at the top of the market. And Joe Lacob’s told me it’s top three but you know, there’s different versions of what top three means.
“I think he should probably make as much more than Daryl Morey since he’s got four rings and Morey’s got none. But it’s an interesting process. I think it’s negotiation. I think all these things need to be said, they needed to talk it out. I think it largely could come down to dollars.”
Kawakami acknowledged that both Myers and Lacob are tough negotiators, which could aggravate the process more than if they were not.
He also mentioned that there’s a world of opportunity for Myers to explore as a wildly successful, 47-year-old general manager, whether that’s in sports or elsewhere.
But the real reason Kawakami thinks Myers sticks around? Number 30. Said Kawakami:
If I’m him… Steph Curry is a once in a lifetime opportunity. To work with Steph Curry, to win with Steph Curry, to be in the locker room with Steph Curry. I don’t know, if I’m Bob Myers, if I would leave that.
That’s maybe two years [away]. I’m more optimistic than most, but I would say start looking at two years from now instead of right now.
Now, maybe now is the time for Bob to go. He just feels like it’s the right time. I don’t quite think so.
There’s a lot of rumbling that I’m wrong, that this is going to be the summer where it changes, and boy does that change a lot of things for the Warriors. But I also think this way, if you’re Joe Lacob, if you don’t have a real replacement for him. You just don’t.
Mike Dunleavy Jr. would be the next in line. I think Mike’s going to be a GM. I don’t know that he’s the right GM for this moment for the Warriors. Just to redo everything, if they really are redoing everything around Steph Curry, I think you want Bob Meyers doing it. And I think that I think [Myers] would have feel some responsibility about that too.
I’m not going to be stupid and say the rumblings are wrong. I think the rumblings are very interesting and I’m paying attention to all of them. I just have the sense that this is still a special moment and as long as you’ve got the opportunity to have number 30 on your team, you don’t leave it, and I’ll stick with that for now.
After next season, the Warriors have Curry, Jordan Poole, Andrew Wiggins and Kevon Looney (on a non-guaranteed deal) locked up, along with some rookie options and a player option for Gary Payton II.
Many things could change, and Kawakami’s argument makes you wonder if Lacob will want to risk have someone other than Myers around to oversee those potential changes.
Listen to the full interview below. You can listen to every KNBR interview on our podcast page at knbr.com/podcasts or wherever you listen to podcasts.
Catch Tolbert & Copes weekdays from 2 p.m. – 6 p.m. on KNBR 104.5 / 680 and streaming live on KNBR.com.
