Warriors owner says tanking is 'against every single thing' team stands for after Steph Curry's broken hand
Just four games into the regular season, some are now thinking that tanking is the best route forward for the Golden State Warriors — the team that has reached the NBA Finals five years in a row.
The once-dominant franchise looks entirely different, even more so after Steph Curry suffered a broken left hand in the team’s 121-110 loss to the Phoenix Suns on Wednesday night in San Francisco. He’ll now join Klay Thompson — who suffered an ACL injury in the Finals earlier this year — on the sidelines without a firm timetable for his recovery.
While tanking may be the move in some people’s minds, Warriors owner Joe Lacob apparently “scoffed” at the idea.
“It is against every single thing I and we stand for,” Lacob said Wednesday night, via ESPN’s Ramona Shelburne.
“We will fight like hell. Develop our young guys. Learn to win. 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’s truly a great mindset to have, especially just a handful of games into the season.
Yet Lacob is now working with essentially a totally new locker room. Nine of its players are 23 or younger, and Draymond Green is essentially the only active player left with any experience in their recent string of success — but he, too, is dealing with multiple minor injuries.
Still, Lacob believes in his team and the players at his disposal. He likes D’Angelo Russell, rookies Jordan Poole and Eric Paschall and thinks that Kevon Looney can make a big impact when he makes his return, too.
Lacob, though, didn’t provide a timetable for when he thinks they can get back into contention. He knows it could take a while, especially if the team keeps losing while Curry is rehabbing his hand.
“I’m an optimist and we’re building something,” Lacob said, via The Athletic. “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 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.”
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