‘It’s just time’: Dubs architect Myers steps down

Golden State‘s Bob Myers, a two-time executive of the year and architect of four NBA championships with the Warriors, is stepping down as the franchise’s president and general manager, he told ESPN on Tuesday.

“It’s just time,” Myers told ESPN. Myers, whose contract expires in late June, declined ownership offers on a new deal that would’ve paid him among the league’s top-earning executives, he said. Myers described the decision-making process that led him to leave the franchise after 12 years as including several factors beyond money.

Myers, 48, said he’s unsure of his future professional pathway, but should he someday decide to return to the team side, he’s expected to become the one of the most pursued executives in modern North American professional sports history.

Myers’ blend of leadership, talent evaluation and the respect that he commands at every level of the industry — ownership, front office, coaches, players and agents — makes him a uniquely appealing part of a potential ownership group or front office.

Myers is set to speak at a news conference scheduled for 4 p.m. ET Tuesday in San Francisco.

In his dozen years with the Warriors, Myers, who grew up in the Bay Area as a fan of the franchise and went on to play basketball at UCLA, built a Hall of Fame résumé. He enjoyed strong working and personal relationships with the key members of the Warriors’ dynasty — Stephen Curry, Draymond Green, Klay Thompson and coach Steve Kerr. He let each of them know in recent days that there was a real possibility of him stepping away from the job, sources said.

With Myers’ departure, Warriors owner Joe Lacob is expected to seek more prominent roles for his son, Kirk, an executive vice president of basketball operations, and VP of basketball operations Mike Dunleavy Jr.

The Warriors are approaching a difficult crossroads with a payroll and luxury tax that could approach a historic $500 million in 2023-2024 without hard decisions made on the future of key players, including Green and Thompson.

Green has a player option on his 2023-2024 contract, and Thompson is entering the final year of his deal. Both players are hopeful for lucrative extensions to remain with the Warriors.

The Warriors had won four titles in the past eight years before losing to the Los Angeles Lakers in the Western Conference semifinals this spring. The Warriors reached the NBA Finals six times in Myers’ 11 seasons as GM, losing to Toronto (2019) and Cleveland (2016). Myers oversaw the Warriors’ pursuit of Kevin Durant, who arrived as a free agent in 2016 and was part of two titles with the Warriors before tearing an Achilles in the 2019 NBA Finals.

Myers was hired as an assistant GM in 2011 and promoted to GM in 2012, and outside of Curry’s arrival predating his own, has overseen the drafts, trades and signings that have sculpted one of the league’s modern dynasties. Myers was a prominent player agent prior to joining the Warriors’ front office in 2011.