Joe Lacob's TK Show Warriors Interview Had One Glaring Omission

Golden State Warriors governor Joe Lacob had an extended interview with Tim Kawakami on Wednesday, and he addressed major talking points.

Not surprisingly, Lacob spun most things in a more positive light than many writers and fans would.

Here are some of the examples:

- He's more bullish on the team's chances this season, partially because he believes the Warriors can get a healthy season from Kristaps Porzingis, who has missed more than half of the last two seasons with injuries and illnesses.
- He even went so far as to say he doesn't "understand what all the negativity is about" and seems to really believe the Dubs had a decent offseason despite keeping the roster nearly the same as last year's.
- He believes Mike Dunleavy Jr. is one of the best GMs in the league.
- He believes Steve Kerr is one of the best coaches in the league.
- He believes the Jonathan Kuminga draft pick wasn't a mistake.

I'll admit as I was debating each point individually, I missed the bigger-picture issue here.

But Light Years podcast host Sam Esfandiari had a series of X posts Tuesday that captured the bigger picture well.

In response to Lacob's comment about Kuminga not being a mistake, Esfandiari wrote: "Yes, we know. You guys do no self-evaluation."

What all of these things have in common is the Warriors are lacking honest self-evaluation.

Self-Evaluation Is Lacking

Coming off four consecutive seasons finishing between sixth and 10th in the regular season, including missing the playoffs twice, the Warriors should be thinking about making significant changes.

Among the changes the Warriors could make are:

- Handing front office power to an outside voice who works above Dunleavy and allows Lacob to be more hands off on basketball decisions
- Making major roster changes, specifically looking for players with healthier track records who would fit with Stephen Curry
- Hiring a new head coach whose ideas might be more cutting-edge than Kerr's, which might be stale

Lacob and the Warriors didn't do any of these things.

Lacob will remind you the Warriors won a title in 2022, which implies that he should be trusted more by the fanbase. But the foundation of that title was three Hall of Famers drafted between 2009 and 2012. One of those Hall of Famers is not on the team anymore, one is declining, and the other is 38.

The foundation is crumbling.

Over the last four years, what Lacob has been doing hasn't been working, but there's little to no acknowledgement that he is looking to change things.

That's a process flaw.

Kuminga Pick Reflection Could Be Best Example

Lacob's thoughts on the Kuminga pick could be considered irrelevant to what the Warriors will do in 2026-27 and beyond. But they do point to a lack of honest self-evaluation.

For those who missed it, this was his full quote.

"I do not view Jonathan Kuminga as a mistake. I think we may have made some mistakes in how would we handled it and how he handled it, maybe he made some mistakes, and obviously that's well documented and we had to move on. But he's an NBA player and played in the playoffs and did really well. It's not a mistake at the seventh pick. There were seventh picks that are out of the league."

By Lacob's own account, Kuminga is very talented and the Warriors have an elite front office and an elite head coach. By most accounts, they've had a strong roster for most of the last five seasons.

If all of that is true, then any talented player should have thrived.

But Kuminga didn't thrive.

The Warriors waited 4.5 years for his star turn. The opportunity cost of this choice was huge. So many players would have thrived with Kuminga's role. The team could have won a fifth title with one of those players.

But the Dubs held on to Kuminga past the point that it was reasonable. They had to settle for a much worse trade return that they could have gotten.

I'd argue the Kuminga pick was a mistake and the decision not to trade him sooner was a bigger mistake.

Lacob admits there were mistakes, but it's not clear what he thinks they were.

Of course, there would be no benefit to Lacob bashing Kuminga, Kerr or anyone involved with Kuminga's development, but it would be refreshing to see him admit what mistakes the Warriors made and explain how that has changed their draft and development strategy.

Instead, this quote comes off as his way to defend his draft track record, which serves no purpose to fans frustrated from four disappointing seasons in a row due in part to the Kuminga and James Wiseman draft misses.

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