Golden State Warriors owner Joe Lacob surfaced Wednesday to decline comment on the uncertain future of head coach Steve Kerr and talk baseball instead. Remember when he tried to dip into baseball with the San Diego Padres up for sale?
The winning bid of $3.9 billion (an MLB record) belonged to José E. Feliciano, whose net worth according to Forbes amounts to $3.9 billion, and his wife, Kwanza Jones.
During his appearance at a Sportico conference in San Francisco, Lacob explained his interest in the baseball enterprise: “Some people have said it’s an overpay,” he said, per a Sportico article. “It was a lot more than us, and I think we were second, but I think in the long run it will be a good investment because I do believe in baseball.”
Lacob has proven foresight, having led an ownership group that purchased the Warriors for $450 million in 2010. The Warriors are now worth $11.33 billion, which according to Sportico rates as the highest valuation in the NBA.
“Baseball and basketball are pretty much the same kind of business,” Lacob said.
“I also happen to like baseball a lot. I think it’s made some great changes in recent years. The pitch clock and so on, speed the game up. I think it’s on the rise, not the opposite. And I think it would’ve been a good fit. Having said that, it’s an auction and sometimes you get outbid in these things. I don’t like that. But we did.”
Lacob was asked a question about Kerr but answered vaguely by stating the obvious, that the status of the longtime Warriors head coach with the organization could be decided “today, tomorrow or in three weeks,” per Sportico.