Phoenix Suns owner Matt Ishbia recently spoke out about teams reportedly lagging in the NBA, calling it "losing behavior." With tanking emerging as a hot topic in the league, it looks like Ishbia has at least one supporter in the form of Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob.
According to Tim Kawakami of the San Francisco Standard, while discussing the state of the Warriors this season, Lacob made it clear that his team is not making any efforts to tank. He acknowledged Ishbia's comments and firmly declared that Golden State was not an organization that would ever come under his ownership.
“I saw another boss come out today and say [tanking]Matt Ishbia," Lacob said. "I think, you know, it's not in my DNA to do that, and it's not in the DNA of this organization ... it's not a good look. This is a game. We must play to win. And that's not a way I'll ever be comfortable trying to make my team better."
Joe Lacob believes in the idea that his team, along with others in the league, must perform their best for the fans who pay for tickets to watch their games and buy their merchandise. Overall, he wants to put the best product on the court, even if the club is facing some problems, like Jimmy Butler's injury for example.
"Look, this season matters to the fans who bought tickets this year," Lacob said. "Hopefully, they'll be our fans next year too, obviously. I think you've always got to try to win and do your best. We've been dealt some tough cards here right now. And our expectations probably shouldn't have been as high as they were. I thought, with Jimmy, since we got him, we had the fourth-best record in the league, I think."
Butler has been ruled out of the remainder of the 2025-26 campaign due to an ACL injury. Once he was ruled out, the Warriors had every excuse to go all out this season. Instead, the front office traded for Kristaps Porzingis, giving the roster a huge boost in the front court that could ultimately lead to huge success if it pays off.
However, we'll see how it goes, as the Warriors are currently without Stephen Curry due to a knee injury. Curry is expected to eventually return, but he will miss at least the next four games after missing Thursday's 121-110 loss to the Boston Celtics.
