Golden State Warriors president Bob Myers announced his resignation Tuesday. His exit ends a 12-year tenure that produced six trips to the NBA Finals, four championships and a record-setting 73-win season in 2015-16.
“This is hard,” Myers said Tuesday at a news conference. “I have so many different things, emotions, that I’m still processing. But the bottom line is, this job, the one I’m in — and I would say this about any general manager or coach — requires complete engagement, complete effort, 1,000 percent. If you can’t do it, you shouldn’t do it. That’s the answer to the question of why. … I’ve only known how to do things one way my whole life: all-in. It doesn’t feel right to do something when I can’t give it everything, and that’s what it takes to do what we’ve done.”
The Warriors just completed a turbulent defense of their 2022 title that opened with Draymond Green punching teammate Jordan Poole during the preseason and ended with a second-round exit against the Los Angeles Lakers. Golden State has appeared poised for an offseason of change with Myers, Green and guard Klay Thompson facing contract decisions. With a payroll and significant luxury tax bill that could exceed $400 million next season, Golden State has limited methods for dramatically improving its roster around superstar guard Stephen Curry.
“Bob is such an important part of our organization, not only as one of the faces of the organization, out there in the NBA world meeting with other executives and agents and representing us in that regard, but also with his relationships with other players,” Kerr said this month, noting he was hoping Myers would return next season. “He’s got such credibility with our guys. There’s so much history there. The continuity that exists between Bob and the older players means that he can have those difficult conversations, and sometimes even during games, which is pretty rare, but something that has been a huge help for me.”
For months Myers’s future has been cloudy, given his pending free agency this summer, and he enters the market as the top available front-office candidate. The Los Angeles Clippers, who recently lost general manager Michael Winger to the Washington Wizards, could have interest in Myers’s services after hiring adviser Jerry West from the Warriors in 2017. Myers, a Bay Area native, played basketball for four years at UCLA in the 1990s.
Mike Dunleavy Jr., the Warriors’ vice president of basketball operations, is a potential candidate to replace Myers. The 42-year-old, who was drafted by Golden State with the third pick in 2002, was hired to a front-office role by the organization in 2018 and promoted to his current position in 2021.
