Report: Warriors Hire Zaza Pachulia as Consultant in Return to Villain Status

Zaza Pachulia is now a team consultant for the Golden State Warriors.

“I’m super excited and looking forward to it,” Pachulia said in a text message. “It’s going to be a fun process.”

“During his playing stint with the Warriors, Pachulia endeared himself to his teammates and fans with a combination of the bizarre (who can forget his weird dance in Boston?), the humorous (as typified by his ongoing dunk contest with former teammate Klay Thompson), and the occasional unexpected turn of flair (he popularized the screen and through-the-legs-pass to Steph Curry),” Forbes writes.

“But most of all he was a key contributor on the floor with his toughness and willingness to do all the dirty work. The Warriors needed that too, after moving on from Andrew Bogut to create the cap space to sign Kevin Durant in the summer of 2016. Between Pachulia and David West, the Warriors managed to secure two veteran players to man the middle who were both much more valuable than the contracts they signed.”

Pachulia returned to the Golden State as a consultant. He was a big name in the NBA not because of his athleticism but because of his smarts and toughness. The young Warriors will have a lot to learn from him.

The Athletic’s Anthony Slater explained that Pachulia has been taking classes at Harvard, and it has something to do with his post-playing career. In the Golden State, Pachulia will be able to check out every area of the business, and learn more about the role front-office execs have. In other words, he has big plans for his future with the franchise.

Hiring Pachulia wasn’t the only change the Lakers made. The team signed Bob Myers and Rick Welts to long-term extensions. Kirk Lacob had the role of the team’s Assistant General Manager. Now, he will be the Executive Vice President for Basketball Operations. His brother Kent, who was the Santa Cruz Warriors General Manager, became the Director for Team Development.

The Warriors changed facility, and they have moved their business in a different location. Their roster is changed, and the front office is changed, too. It looks like they are changing the rules of the game.