Warriors Dismissed Mitch Richmond by Text Message

Larry Riley’s rise to the GM position closed the book on the Chris Mullin era in Oakland. Riley was given full authority to make personnel decisions. So it was only a matter of time before Richmond, who served as a special assistant under Mullin, came under fire. To his credit, Riley attempted to reach Richmond by phone before opting for text, but the end result still paints of picture of dysfunction in the Warriors front office. Tim Kawakami at the San Jose Mercury News relayed the exchange between Riley and one of the most popular players in franchise history:

So, failing in other attempts, Riley text-messaged Richmond. I don’t have it word for word, but people who know the back-and-forth say it was something very much like: “I can tell you we will be retaining you for next season.”

What? Yep, Riley’s message said the Warriors would be retaining Richmond. Which surely couldn’t be correct.

–Richmond, no dummy, was surprised by the contents of the text-message. He’s Mullin’s guy, his contract was up, he assumed he would be getting released, also.

Probably realizing there was more to the story, but wanting to see where this was headed, Richmond text-messaged back to Riley, something to the effect of: “OK, fax me my contract.”

–Riley either immediately realized after sending his text that he made an error or, once he saw Richmond’s reply, REALLY realized the error.

He had to send another message to Richmond. Something very close to: “Sorry, I missed a word. I meant to say that we will NOT be retaining you.”