Joe Lacob and the Warriors have captured four NBA championships since he purchased the team in 2010, but one stands out above the rest for the Golden State CEO.
The Warriors owner recently revealed why Golden State's 2022 NBA Finals win is "most important" to him -- for now -- on the latest episode of The Athletic's "Hoops Adjacent" podcast with Marcus Thompson and David Aldridge.
While his first ring in 2015 was special in its own regard, and the back-to-back titles in '17 and '18 with Kevin Durant surely were something to behold, the Warriors' most recent championship was personal for Lacob.
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"But '22 might go down for me as the most special because of a few personal factors," Lacob said. "One, I really wanted to see Steph [Curry] get what he deserved. He had never been MVP, and there's an argument that he might have gotten it in the past, and I think that fulfilled something on his resume, if you will, which I think is important historically.
"But also, it was Boston. I came from there; I grew up with the Celtics in the 60s. I'm getting pretty old, and I'm not a Celtics fan now, but I was very much a Celtics fan growing up and that parquet floor and the whole thing, and to go into Boston and do it on that floor -- I mean, we were down [two games to one]. And the way Steph and others, [Andrew] Wiggins, played ... It was so unbelievably rewarding. It might go down, in some ways, as the most important for me.
"However, the most important one really, in actuality, is the next one."
Lacob certainly is never satisfied, but Golden State's Finals run in 2022 is one that will be hard to top. There were so many incredible moments after the NBA world had counted the Warriors out, from Wiggins' two-way dominance and Kevon Looney's dominance on the glass to Curry's epic 43-point performance in Game 4 at TD Garden.
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With the 2024-25 NBA season right around the corner, Lacob is working to bring more iconic moments to the Bay.
"I do believe we are nowhere near done," Lacob told Thompson and Aldridge. "People call [teams] dynasties and all that stuff, that's up for other people to talk about. I'm just trying to win as much as possible, win another one. I want Steph to get his fifth [ring]. I want our team, Draymond [Green] to get his fifth.
"And we're trying like hell every single day to accomplish that."
It remains to be seen whether this Golden State group can return to its former glory to reach the NBA mountaintop. But they've done it plenty of times before.
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