Warriors Team President Robert Rowell ‘Steps Down’


Golden State showed the door to an unpopular figure from their front-office, as Robert Rowell’s days in the Bay came to an end. From the San Fran Chronicle: “The Warriors on Tuesday effectively fired team President Robert Rowell, a key figure for the franchise during a dark stretch when Chris Cohan owned the team. Rowell was president for eight seasons and was with the Warriors in some capacity for 16. During that time, the Warriors went to the playoffs an NBA-low once and were known league-wide as a team of consistent drama and infighting, but they also consistently sold tickets and made money. Rowell, once a powerful voice with Golden State, had been muted, especially since co-owners Joe Lacob and Peter Guber were approved to buy the team in November. General manager Larry Riley is the last significant executive from Cohan’s regime. “We spent a lot of time evaluating this decision and believe that now is the appropriate time for the new ownership team to put our complete stamp on the entire organization,” Lacob said in a news release. ‘We believe that previous ownership really put (Rowell) in a publicly challenging position over the past few years, and I have a great deal of respect for how he has conducted himself as a professional.’ The Warriors say Rowell ‘elected to step down.’ He will remain with the team on an interim basis to assist Lacob and Guber in the search for a replacement.”