Some Stories Deserve a Recap

 This isn't exactly how I was going to continue with the story, but we will take things slow and find more of a direction. Back in 2005, Steve Schott would sell the Oakland Athletics to John Fisher and Lew Wolff ending his nearly ten year tenure with the organization. Fisher and Wolff weren't the only people interested in purchasing the team one name was Joe Lacob and Peter Guber. For those who might not be aware Lacob would become the owner of the Boston Celtics and later on the owner of the Golden State Warriors. For more background we turn to digital.olivesoftware.com 
"I interviewed Lacob in October for a book with former A’s owner Steve Schott. Other parts of the interview are relevant to what’s now transpiring with the A’s, who are leveraging Oakland against Las Vegas in their pursuit of a stadium.

“This never really came out, but I had an agreement to buy the Oakland A’s, literally,” Lacob confirmed after Schott briefed me on those negotiations. According to Schott, his attorney told Lacob, “Here’s the deal right here. If you want it, you can have it for this number. Meet the price, and it’s yours.”

The number was $180 million, and both Schott and Lacob said qualifying wasn’t an issue. A verbal agreement was reached, and Lacob said he was in Southern California playing in a golf tournament the day he was supposed to hear from MLB.

Lacob brought his phone onto the course but didn’t get a call. Through his adviser, he tried calling MLB the next day, and no one was taking his calls. This went on for four days, and Lacob eventually realized Selig felt more comfortable with an old acquaintance — Wolff."

Though it is understandable why Bud would pick his old friend and a familiar face as opposed to the unproven name like Joe Lacob. Truth is though it worked out for the best because when the deal was pulled out from under him even though it was agreed to in principal he looked to an unlikely source. Which again we look to the same previously referenced article: 
"So what did Lacob do? On the advice of then-NBA Commissioner David Stern, he bought into his hometown Boston Celtics as a minority partner and built relationships with league honchos."
“When the Warriors came up in 2010, I had an advantage, ironically — maybe my only advantage — over Larry Ellison, which was I knew everybody in the league really well,” said Lacob, who partnered with Peter Guber to buy the Warriors in 2010, five years after MLB denied him, for $450 million. The team is now valued by Forbes at $5.6 billion.
“It’s interesting. The reaction to what happened with the A’s kind of helped me get the Warriors.”

Looking back I do think that the direction of sports in general would've been a lot different had Joe been able to secure the funding and purchase the Oakland A's. I firmly believe Bud choosing his friend over Lacob though it should've been tied to the deal and not his preexisting relationship. Lacob also has stated he would be interested in purchasing the A's if the team comes up for sale nowadays. The main question though that story brings up is if Lacob never bought the Warriors how would that have changed the path of NBA history and the same could be said would that have changed the track for the A's as well.