Was Golden State’s Bob Meyers encouraged to resign, or did he just not get a contract worthy of his ego?

Bob Myers’ reign as the strategic basketball mind behind the premier dynasty of the past decade came to a conclusion on Tuesday afternoon when the 48-year-old team president and general manager stepped aside on Tuesday morning. The Splash Brothers were the core of Golden State’s five NBA title quests, but he unlocked them by acquiring Draymond Green through the draft and trading for Andre Iguodala. Equating a general manager’s contributions is an inexact science, but it’s safe to say Myers left his mark.

Myers is the mastermind who probably booked his ticket into Springfield’s Basketball Hall of Fame. Equating his value to the Warriors is impossible, but we can try. The Golden State Warriors are in their early-stage Waystar-Royco years. Riding off the high of Myers’ Warriors accomplishments, constructing a dynastic roster, the elder Joe Lacob seems intent on installing one of his scions as the basketball operations heir apparent. Myers’s former assistant general manager Travis Schlenk is currently unemployed after rebuilding the Atlanta Hawks with an impeccable touch in the draft, but he just left a situation involving an owner’s intrusive son.

A legacy of savviness

Myers’ legacy in Golden State is remembered for his savviness. Head coach Steve Kerr was a Joe Lacob hire. Myers left his fingerprints all over the roster by supplying Kerr with Green, Iguodala as well as the majority of the supporting cast around their cornerstone players. After this season, the climb begins anew, and rebuilding the Warriors is a difficult climb that Myers seems eager to avoid. If the Warriors weren’t willing to match his compensation requests after the hundreds of millions of dollars they’ve stockpiled since moving into the Chase Center on the back of those titles, that would be an egregious error in judgment. (Myers said he “declined ownership offers on a new deal that would’ve paid him among the league’s top-earning executives,” according to Woj.)

Myers hasn’t drafted well

Since plucking Draymond Green out of the second round of the draft, Myers’ has struggled to develop role players. His most notable selections in the last 10 drafts were Kevon Looney and Jordan Poole, but both players wound up integral to their 2022 title.

The demand for Myers will be felt during the next season rather than this summer when most front office openings have already been filled. If he chooses to return to NBA front offices, he’d likely seek the type of autonomy that Danny Ainge now enjoys in Utah or the all-mighty power Pat Riley has had in Miami for three decades. That was never going to be possible in Golden State with the owners pulling a Logan Roy and attempting to smuggle his children into the basketball operations side.

Maybe he finds it in Houston, which has suffered from a massive power vacuum since Daryl Morey stepped down in 2020. Establishing a kingdom of his own is the only logical next step after reaching the pinnacle besides leaving basketball entirely and using his brand in the broader business world. Myers’ record has its warts. Drafting James Wiseman over LaMelo Ball is the most egregious of his NBA Draft missteps. As the Warriors advanced deeper into the postseason, he became increasingly ineffective in sniffing out rotation players.