Trophy-humping Warriors owner Joe Lacob has previously tried to take credit for his team’s success in hilariously tone-deaf ways. There was the time he bragged to The New York Times Magazine about how the Warriors’ 73-win season was as much the result of his venture capitalist approach to basketball as it was Steph Curry’s ascendance—a boast he later had to apologize to Curry for. Then there was the time he tried to take credit for small ball while classifying the idea of signing Kevin Durant as some bold and innovative strategy. Now, thanks to a new book from Warriors reporter Marcus Thompson, we have more definitive proof that Lacob is basketball’s answer to Mr. Magoo.
Thompson has an excerpt from his book, Golden, up on The Athletic today, and it includes this anecdote:
Even Curry’s own coach, Steve Kerr, publicly listed Durant, LeBron, and San Antonio Spurs’ star Kawhi Leonard as the elite of the elite in the NBA. Kerr was referring to two-way players, but it was in lockstep with the general sentiment.
On top of that, as the Warriors prepared for the postseason, Warriors owner Joe Lacob was considering offering Curry a contract below the max, even though Curry has been one of the most underpaid players in all of sports over the last three seasons. Warriors general manager Bob Myers kept Lacob from bringing a reduced offer to the negotiating table, but it was enough of a thing that Myers reassured Curry of the franchise’s commitment.
The level of dipshittery necessary for Lacob to try and lowball Curry is hard to fathom. Not only because of the fact that if Steph Curry doesn’t deserve a max contract, then nobody in the NBA does, but also because Curry was criminally underpaid in the seasons leading up to and during the Warriors’ championship run. Is Curry going to be as productive as Kawhi Leonard and Kevin Durant throughout the rest of his career? Perhaps not, but only a true rich asshole would try to convince anyone that Curry hasn’t earned at least every dollar he’s being paid.