Getty Minority owner Magic Johnson and owner Josh Harris of the Washington Commanders react during the game against the Los Angeles Rams.
Former Golden State Warriors general manager Bob Myers is crossing over from basketball to football as he joins the Washington Commanders in an advisory role.
The Commanders’ ownership, led by Josh Harris who previously owned the Philadelphia 76ers, and minority owner, Los Angeles Lakers legend Earvin “Magic” Johnson, hopes Myers’ golden touch will revive the floundering NFL franchise.
Myers, the architect of the Warriors’ dynasty, will assist the Commanders in searches for a new head of football operations and coach to replace Ron Rivera, according to the team’s official statement.
We’ve parted ways with head coach Ron Rivera
Myers, who currently works as an ESPN NBA analyst after leaving the Warriors, will join former Minnesota Vikings GM Rick Spielman in the advisory committee with Harris and limited partners Mitch Rales, Magic Johnson and David Blitzer.
But Myers will take the lead role, according to SPN’s Adrian Wojnarowski and Adam Schefter, in identifying and coordinating interviews with candidates for the top football operations and head-coaching jobs, with Spielman set to work closely with him.
“I’ve known Bob a long time and watched him construct four championship teams and a highly successful organization in Golden State. … He is innovative, thoughtful, well-connected across sports and understands what it takes to solidify and sustain championship infrastructure. I think he’s going to be incredibly additive,” Harris told ESPN.
A two-time NBA executive of the year, Myers pushed the Warriors by building relationships and identifying the right coach — Steve Kerr — that propelled their core of Stephen Curry, Klay Thompson and Draymond Green, and in three seasons with Kevin Durant, a Commanders fan, to the top.
Draymond Green Almost Retired
In a revealing episode of his podcast “The Draymond Green Show,” the Warriors All-Star forward said NBA Commissioner Adam Silver talked him out of retirement.
“I told him, ‘Adam this is too much for me. … This is too much. It’s all becoming too much for me — and I’m going to retire,’” Green said in the video clip obtained by ESPN. “And Adam said, ‘You’re making a very rash decision and I won’t let you do that.’
“We had a long, great conversation — very helpful to me. Very thankful to play in a league with a commissioner like Adam who’s more about helping you than hurting you; helping you than punishing you. He’s more about the players.”
The NBA lifted Green’s suspension on Saturday, January 6, but he will need more time to ramp up his physical conditioning after being away from the Warriors for 12 games. He returned to the Warriors bench in street clothes during Sunday’s 133-118 loss to the Toronto Raptors at Chase Center.
Warriors Suffer Embarrassing Home Loss
Green’s return to the Warriors bench was supposed to lift the team’s spirits.
Instead, they got deflated by the resurgent Toronto Raptors, who dominated them in a wire-to-wire 133-118 win on January 7, Sunday, at Chase Center.
Buoyed by their trade acquisitions (RJ Barrett’s season-high 37 points and Immanuel Quickley’s season-high 10 assists), the Raptors toyed around the Warriors, who experimented with an Andrew Wiggins-Jonathan Kuminga starting lineup that did not work.
Curry picked the wrong time to have an off night.
Bothered by Toronto’s swarming length and defense, Curry missed all nine 3-point attempts. He finished with only nine points, his second-lowest scoring performance this season, on 2-of-14 shooting.