Warriors owner Joe Lacob says they've made Bob Myers two contract offers: 'I fully expect Bob will be back'

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In an interview on "The TK Show," Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob told The Athletic's Tim Kawakami that the team has made two extension offers to president Bob Myers, whose contract will expire at the end of the season. Last month, ESPN's Adrian Wojnarowski reported that negotiations between Myers and the Warriors were at an impasse.

"Well, I'm not going to negotiate in the press, in the media, but I will say this: We love Bob," Lacob said. "He's family. He's been here, what, 10 years? Really got his big break here and made the most of it and deserves everything he gets. He has been paid, compensated very well up to the point, in the top three of general managers in this league even on his last deal. And all I will say is that it is not accurate that he has somehow not been offered anything. He's been offered several -- there have been two offers at this point. I'm trying. Have you ever known me not to be aggressive?"

The ESPN report did not indicate that Golden State hadn't made any offers to Myers, only that the two sides had yet to reach an agreement and the talks were on hiatus. Nonetheless, Lacob said he wanted to "clarify" that they had made offers, adding that he hopes Myers and Myers' agent do not get upset with him for speaking about it.

"It's really just a negotiation, to be honest with you," Lacob said. "I fully expect Bob will be back. And he's a great negotiator. What do you want him to do? He's supposed to do this. So we love Bob and we want him back."

Kawakami followed up by asking how important Myers is to the franchise long-term. "He's very important," Lacob said. "He's done a phenomenal job. He's been Executive of the Year, and deservedly so." Lacob said people will "never understand how difficult" it was to pull off the Andre Iguodala signing in 2017, adding that "Kevin Durant was really his idea and execution and that brought us two championships." He downplayed the likelihood that Myers would leave, but did not rule it out.

"So look, Bob's great, Bob's done a great job," Lacob said. "But we also do have a tremendous organization beneath him, great depth. I'd like to think more depth than almost any organization, with really good people, and he's supported very well. And so, look, I don't want him to go, I don't think he'll go anywhere, I expect him to be here and it would hurt to lose him, certainly. But like you said, I mean, we have to just go forward. There are circumstances that do evolve sometimes, and I guess it's conceivable, there's some chance that for some reason he or Steve [Kerr] wouldn't be here. I don't think it's likely, but it is possible and we'd have to figure out a way to go forward."

In that same December story, ESPN reported that the team had brought up the idea of an extension with Kerr, but was under less pressure to get one done because his contract only expires at the end of the 2023-24 season. Lacob confirmed that Kerr's contract is set to expire in the summer of 2024, but implied that no extension is imminent.

"Honestly, we haven't even really gotten to that point yet," Lacob said. "Steve is doing his job. He's in Year 4 of a five-year deal and he's done a great job and we'll deal with that later."

Speaking of contract extensions: Earlier in the podcast appearance, Lacob said that Golden State "had to sign up Jordan Poole going forward" before the season because he believed "several teams" would have been preparing to try to sign him this coming summer, "probably to a max contract." Poole signed a four-year deal worth $128 million in October.

The Warriors had won five games in a row before a 122-119 loss against the Detroit Pistons on Wednesday. They are 20-19 on the season, with a league-best 17-3 record at home and a league-worst 3-16 record on the road. Stephen Curry has missed their last 10 games, but might only miss two more games before his return. Andrew Wiggins has missed their last 15 games, but might be back even sooner.

"Am I disappointed with the record that we have today overall? Yes," Lacob said. "But I think we're on the right trajectory. And I do think we have a lot of talent. And I think we can win the championship."