Bob Myers leaves the Warriors after 4 NBA titles – and it wasn’t because of the money

Lacob’s sexy leadership style and obsession with staying in the loop—he estimates he spoke to Myers “five to 20 times a day”—were obvious factors in Myers’ burnout. Tim Kawakami has explained that well-known dynamic here. This was undoubtedly a file in his explanation to Curry, Kerr, and others about why he came out.

But Lakob is exempt from the kind of public disconnection that can lead to dividing the situation (and often does in the world of corporate sports). He made a real effort to bring Myers back. Life charmed him away. Basic antennas will keep an eye on how the front office operates from here, but the clean, friendly outlet — including the Myers, Lacob combo press as they lathered each other up in mirrored compliments — keeps the waters a little less turbulent for the time being.

“Bottom line, this job, the job I have — and I would say this to my professional general manager or coach — requires full involvement, full effort, 1,000 percent,” Myers said. “If you can’t do it, you shouldn’t do it. So here’s the answer to the question of why. I can’t do it for our players. I can’t do it for Joe and Peter (Guber). Really, I can’t do it for myself. And that’s the question that I was wrestling with him.”

You can feel the weight of the job really weighing on Myers over the past two years. He was still the crunch manager and there was plenty to keep him busy – Draymond Green punch, trade pick James Wiseman, Gary Payton II failed physical. But the nuts of the operation had been delegated to a front office below Myers that was built to survive without him on a day-to-day basis.

This is why the Warriors aren’t in an emergency situation this coming month, despite the draft and free agency staring them in the face. Myers has not been closely involved in the pre-draft process in recent weeks.

The Warriors actually had a pre-workout while Myers and Lacube were doing their press conference on Tuesday afternoon. It included Jaime Jacques Jr., a UCLA winger who is their 19th overall pick. It was run by Larry Harris, longtime college scouting captain, and Mike Donlevy Jr., presumptive successor to Myers.

“We believe in the power of the bench,” said Lacob. “Some may think we’re not grounded in the way they slam the bench on the court sometimes. But we believe in the power of the bench, and within this organization, we have a lot of power on the bench and we have a lot of people who are really good at their jobs.”

Kirk Lacob has his hands on both the basketball and business side and will certainly take on a more prominent role in Myers’ absence. Kent Lacob is moving his way up the ladder after years of scouting internationally and in the G-League. Pabail Sidhu runs the analytics department and is a trusted voice for both Dunleavy and the coaching staff. Onsi Saleh is their hat expert. It is set away from San Antonio. Sean Livingston, Nick Oren, Johnny West, and Ryan Atkinson are others in the room.

But it was Dunlevy who quickly climbed into the seat next to Myers. He was a former client of Myers and was an employee that Myers proposed to in 2019. He was in the same New York hotel room as Myers when the two executed D’Angelo Russell’s signature and trade on the day Kevin Durant left. This eventually led to Andrew Wiggins and the Chosen One becoming Jonathan Cuminga. That night is detailed here.

“Mike is amazing,” Myers said. “He’d be good as a GM, if he wanted to. He’d be great, if that’s what he wanted. But it’s his call. It’s Joe’s call. It’s not my call… But he’s really good, and he’d be great if that was a choice. But I’d be a liar if I thought, before Four years, let’s bring Mike in and he can assume this thing. I told him, ‘If that’s what he wants, I’m all for it. I said I’d help out with Draymond if he needed it.'”