How money, guts, and greed built the Warriors dynasty -- and then took it apart
The Golden State Warriors dominated the NBA for the better part of a decade. Since the arrival of owner Joe Lacob, they won more championships and sold more merchandise than any other franchise in the sport. And in 2019, they opened the doors on a lavish new stadium.
Yet all this success contained some of the seeds of decline. Ethan Sherwood Strauss's clear-eyed exposé reveals the team's culture, its financial ambitions and struggles, and the price that its players and managers have paid for all their winning. From Lacob's unlikely acquisition of the team to Kevin Durant's controversial departure, Strauss shows how the smallest moments can define success or failure for years.
And, looking ahead, Strauss ponders whether this organization can rebuild after its abrupt fall from the top, and how a relentless business wears down its players and executives. The Victory Machine is a defining book on the modern NBA: it not only rewrites the story of the Warriors, but shows how the Darwinian business of pro basketball really works.
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What Ethan Strauss does best is to dispense with the niceties and to cut to the core. He's done it again with The Victory Machine, an unvarnished inside account of the Golden State Warriors, from the driven, resolute owner who bought them to the capricious, conflicted superstar who ultimately left them. A must-read for NBA fans.—Jackie MacMullan, senior ESPN writer and Hall of Fame basketball commentator
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