Sports and culture podcast father Bill Simmons is no stranger to wild conspiracy theories. He bandies them about on every topic under the sun. His favorite arena, of course, is the world of basketball, so it is no surprise that he just fired up the generator and created a big-time NBA theory.
This one is pointed squarely at the Golden State Warriors. In a recent podcast, Simmons was speaking on what NBA teams might surprisingly be put up for sale in the next few years. His off-the-wall answer? Joe Lacob selling the Warriors.
How could such an impossibility shift into the realm of reality? It starts with the San Diego Padres, a Major League Baseball team whose owner recently passed away and is the process of being sold. Lacob and his group are a leading candidate to purchase the team.
Could Joe Lacob sell the Warriors?
That doesn't necessitate Lacob selling the Warriors, of course. Many owners in sports have both an NBA team and another "Big 4" franchise. Jerry Reinsdorf owns the Chicago Bulls and the White Sox. New Los Angeles Lakers owner Mark Walter also owns the LA Dodgers. Josh Harris owns the Philadelphia 76ers and recently purchased the Washington Commanders.
Lacob is not any owner, however. He is an "all-in" type of owner, who buries himself into every new team that he purchases. He doesn't hire great personnel and let them run a team; he hires great personnel and then works alongside them collaboratively. He is in the war room on all of the big decisions for the Warriors, and he has appeared to be extremely involved in the Golden State Valkyries as well.
Could Lacob maintain his level of involvement in those two teams and add an MLB team as well? Baseball is an entirely different animal from basketball, and learning that world will take time -- a lot of time. Will Lacob feel like he can be the kind of owner he wants to be for three professional sports teams in two different cities?
Simmons points out that the time to sell the Warriors is now. He built them from one of the league's laughingstocks to the greatest basketball dynasty of all time, winning four titles and making six Finals across a decade of fantastic basketball. Stephen Curry is one of the great stars in sports history when you combine his achievements, how he changed the game and his integrity and character as a person and leader.
Curry is going to retire at some point, and the next chapter of Warriors basketball will almost certainly be worse than this one. Lacob's own "two timelines" attempt fell flat. This franchise will need to rebuild and start over. Could Lacob "sell high" and move to the world of baseball, allowing some other owner to start anew?
Such a move would almost certainly be a downgrade for the Warriors. Lacob has been one of the league's best owners since he bought the team, modernizing every level of the organization and hiring and promoting a variety of solid people. He built an organizational culture that people wanted to be a part at, be it as an executive, a scout or a player.
A new owner could prove to be fantastic at what they do, but Lacob has already proven that. Selling the franchise is a step into the unknown, an unknown that will likely be worse.
It's a wild conspiracy theory, without a question. But it has a kernel of truth to it, a whiff of possibility, a hint of reality. If Bill Simmons is right, things could be in motion that would lead to Joe Lacob selling the Golden State Warriors.