4. Joe Lacob, Golden State Warriors
Lacob is a little different than most other owners on this list. Like Cuban and Jones, his team became significantly more successful when he took over. Unlike those guys, though, Lacob doesn’t have a long track record as an owner or a blowhard.
He does have one rather notable incident, though, that can’t go ignored.
Late in the Warriors’ 73-9 season, Lacob announced that his team was “light years” ahead of the rest of the NBA, which you can read here.
Have the Warriors been successful under Lacob and business partner Peter Guber? Absolutely. Light years, though? The Warriors did win the NBA Championship in 2015 and broke the single season wins record in 2016, but light years is still a stretch.
Including 2017, San Antonio Spurs have made the playoffs in each of the last 20 years. In all but one of those years, they won 50 or more games. The lone exception was a lockout-shortened, 50-game season that ended in an NBA Championship. In that 20-year run, the Spurs have won five titles, narrowly lost another, and qualified for two additional Conference Finals.
Golden State is in a five-year run playoff that, at the end of the 2017 season, will feature at best two NBA Championships, three Western Conference Championships, and no additional trips to the Conference Finals. It’s a great run, but it’s not light years ahead of the rest of the league.
When the Warriors blew a 3-1 lead to lose the 2016 NBA Finals, a certain joy was felt in different pockets of the NBA. Lacob’s comments coming back to bite him certainly contributed to that.