Joe Lacob proclaims himself an optimist, but today he appears to be beyond that designation.
Superstar Steph Curry is out, presumably for at least a month, with a broken hand sustained when Phoenix big man Aron Baynes fell on him as the Suns blew out the Warriors Wednesday night.
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Curry’s injury, Klay Thompson’s ACL-related yearlong absence and Kevin Durant’s departure for Brooklyn all point to one conclusion: The Warriors are going to struggle mightily this season. Without solid veterans Shaun Livingston and Andre Iguodala to steady the ship, the bottom is likely to fall out on this squad.
But don’t tell that to Lacob, the owner who’s always looking forward. He told ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne he could not fathom tanking the 2019-20 season in hopes of a high draft pick.
“It is against every single thing I and we stand for,” Lacob said.
“We will fight like hell. Develop our young guys. Learn to win,” he continued. “You don’t get better by trying to lose. Our entire organization is about winning. And we will win. Some bumps in the road, perhaps. But we will never accept losing.”
That winning attitude has been written all over the Warriors over the last five years, and rightfully so.
Those Warriors were champions. These are new Warriors, and five games into the season, they look like a disjointed team with nine new players, not a championship-caliber club. Curry’s injury will probably seal them off from playoff contention.
Defiantly, Lacob told The Athletic’s Tim Kawakami that he has belief in the Warriors’ new, unproven players, though he conceded that the timetable is uncertain.
“I’m an optimist and we’re building something. You’re always looking short term and you’re looking intermediate term and you’re looking long term.
“And I think we’ve got a lot of good young players in place. Potentially, there’s a silver lining in all of this, who knows? And I’m very optimistic about our future. Very optimistic about our future. I think we’re going to be there at some point. Can’t say when. We’ve obviously got a lot of injuries now, but we’re going to be there.”
Lacob, of course, has bankrolled a team that went from laughing stock to perennial favorite before, so he knows NBA tides rise and fall.
The Warriors’ future may still have some heft down the line. But it appears between now and then, there could be some light years ahead.
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