The New York Knicks and the Golden State Warriors are potentially on a collision course again 14 years after the 2009 NBA Draft that forever altered the fate of the two franchises.
With Golden State GM Bob Myers yet to sign a contract extension (his current deal expires in July), rumors are swirling that New York is among the potential landing spots for the architect of the Warriors’ dynasty, should he leave the Bay area.
“If he were to leave Golden State this summer, he’d likely be the most sought after front office free agent on the market.
But where might he go?
According to sources close to the situation, Washington, Phoenix, and New York are all worth monitoring as possibilities.”
via The Athletic
The Warriors’ title retention bid is in peril after their bench depth was gutted in the offseason in favor of playing their recent draft picks. The Warriors, currently one game under .500, are finding it hard to strike a balance between their two different timelines — their remaining championship window and their future.
On the other hand, the Knicks are currently stuck in mediocrity but with potential upside owing to their deep draft capital under team president Leon Rose, who, like Myers, was a former player agent.
But their path to becoming front office executives were forged differently.
Myers had to earn his stripes first, becoming Larry Riley’s apprentice as assistant general manager before he rose as the chief architect of one of the greatest NBA dynasties.
On the other hand, Rose was handed the keys to the moribund Knicks franchise without prior front-office experience.
The Knicks are reportedly paying Rose $8 million in annual salary with his conservative approach failing to land superstar Donovan Mitchell in the offseason. But the same approach has slowly resurrected the Knicks, who are in the thick of a fight in the Eastern Conference play-in/playoff race.
According to The Athletic, Myers is likely being paid by the Warriors below Rose’s salary range and that of other prominent executives such as Philadelphia’s Daryl Morey, Toronto’s Masai Ujiri, Miami’s Pat Riley, Minnesota’s Tim Connelly and San Antonio’s R.C. Buford.
But while Warriors owner Joe Lacob has shown his ability to open his checkbooks in building the dynasty, his increasingly growing role in the day-to-day operations might also factor into Myers’ decision.
For all of the stones cast into James Dolan as the owner of one of the most dysfunctional NBA franchises for the better part of the last 20 years, he’s taken a hands-off approach since giving the keys to Rose.
While Tom Thibodeau has righted the ship after a slow start, the 26-23 Knicks aren’t safe yet from sinking as they have the toughest remaining schedule with only a three-game lead over the current 10th-seed Chicago Bulls (22-25). If they bottom out for another trip to the lottery, there’s a great chance Rose’s regime will teeter on the edge of getting axed.
If Myers were to uproot his family from his West Coast roots, the challenge of turning the Knicks into a winning franchise might appeal to him.
Will the Knicks return the favor of stealing Myers from the Warriors after they snatched Stephen Curry in that fateful 2009 NBA Draft one pick ahead of them?
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