Joe Lacob reveals perhaps single most important moment as Warriors owner

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Warriors owner Joe Lacob never will forget what happened on March 19, 2012.

During the halftime ceremony of Chris Mullin's jersey retirement at Oracle Arena, those in attendance showered Lacob with boos as he addressed the crowd.

Golden State fans were venting their frustration at the front office's decision to trade fan-favorite Monta Ellis to the Milwaukee Bucks six days prior.

“The BOOING — perhaps the singularly most important moment for me,” Lacob said in an email to Marcus Thompson of The Athletic. “As awful as it was for me and my family, I had to recognize the situation I was in.

"Dub Nation had endured so many terrible years and false promises. I know, as I was a fan, too. This was the single moment where the courage of my convictions was required. So I made the decision — it was really more instinct than decision — to accept the criticism and defiantly move forward.

"I simply said I understood and that I would have booed me, too. Did I really believe that? I do not know. I only know that it felt like the right thing to say and do.”

Despite the fact the Warriors (5-24) boast the worst record in the NBA this season, it's very difficult to find anything to boo Lacob for at this point -- unless you vehemently oppose the move to Chase Center in San Francisco.

Or, if your name is Monta Ellis.

“I was laughing — but crying at the same time,” the former Warriors guard recently told Thompson when asked about what happened to Lacob at Mullin's ceremony nearly eight years ago. “Because it was bad. It was like, man, all I did for that city, for that organization. Put my body on the line. Even when they doubted me when I came back from my ankle injury.

"I felt like I deserved to know everything that was going on with the process of that whole little thing. It just went sideways. So when I (saw) that I laughed and I said, ‘He deserved it.’"

[RELATED: Why Klay felt for Monta when Warriors traded him to Bucks]

However you might feel about Lacob, the Warriors went to five straight NBA Finals from 2015 to 2019 and captured three championships.

It's impossible to boo that.

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