Bob Myers departing as Warriors president, GM after 4 NBA titles

SAN FRANCISCO(AP) — Bob Myers is departing as president and general manager ofthe Golden State Warriors after building a championship team thatcaptured four titles in an eight-year span and reached fivestraight NBA Finals from 2015-19.

One of themost successful GMs over the past decade in any sport, Myers’contract was set to expire in late June and there has beenspeculation for months about his future, given the sides had yet toreach agreement on an extension or a new deal. A team spokesmanconfirmed the departure Tuesday.

The48-year-old Myers grew up in suburban Danville, played basketballat UCLA and learned key skills on the other side of the businesswhen he became an agent before switching careers and emerging as atop NBA executive with a personable nature who regularly attendedpractices to chat with players, coach Steve Kerr and hisassistants.

Kerr hasloved working alongside Myers in a collaborative way, somethingthat can be unusual in professional sports between the front officeand head coach. Kerr said the week after the season ended thatdecisions about whether to keep the roster together weren’t his tomake.

“Ultimatelyit’s not my job; it’s really more Bob’s job to construct theroster, but the great thing about Bob and the way we’ve operatedhere is that we’ve always collaborated, so there will definitely bea lot of collaboration this summer on putting together the bestpossible roster for next year,” Kerr said.

Myers hasbeen known to talk to players during games, rare for a GM to do.That included working to calm down fiery forward Draymond Green attimes.

He has longsupported Green through his mistakes, technical fouls andsuspensions. In 2016, Green was suspended for a crucial Game 5 lossto LeBron James and the Cavaliers in the NBA Finals afteraccumulating too many flagrant fouls in the playoffs that season.The Warriors wound up losing in seven games. Myers sat with Greennext door to Oracle Arena at the Oakland Coliseum for that gameGreen missed.

Spurs coachGregg Popovich in March credited good friend Kerr and Myers fortheir commitment to acquiring players who want to be team-first andnot just focus on individual success.

“He’s apurist in the sense that he wants all five players to playtogether, and that’s at both ends of the floor, understanding howit works, how the rotations work, and he’s been fantastic in beingconsistent in that regard,” Popovich said of Kerr. “And he and Bobhave been bringing guys in that can understand that. Every playercan’t play that game, they just can’t do it. But they’ve brought inguys that understand it and that will play their roles for the sakeof winning, and winning big.”

It was Myerswho only a couple of months later signed eventual two-time NBAFinals MVP Kevin Durant, who played for Golden State from 2016-19and helped the Warriors win repeat championships in 2017 and’18.

Myers waspromoted to GM in 2012 and constructed the roster that won the 2015championship for the franchise’s first title in 40 years.