Sources: Josh Harris ‘desperately’ wants Bob Myers to be Sixers’ full-time president. Myers is not keen.

On Thursday, an uncharacteristically exhausted Josh Harris and an unusually disheveled Bob Myers held a weird news conference that featured much doublespeak and no substance.

They tried and failed to explain the reasons for dismissing Sixers president Daryl Morey, and they tried and failed to explain how Myers, once Morey’s overseer and now his interim replacement, would reorganize an organization that, under Morey, had just enjoyed its only two seasons of real stability since Harris bought the team 15 years ago.

The takeaway for most observers:

» READ MORE: Ten potential candidates to replace Daryl Morey as the Sixers’ lead executive

Despite lip service to the contrary, Myers is the new boss. Period. He will hire a powerless underling, anoint them the “president” who will serve as figurehead and media presence. Meanwhile, Myers largely will assume the responsibilities he had as the Warriors’ general manager for 12 years and also president for his final eight years there.

In the past few days, NBA sources have contested that perception.

“Josh desperately wants Bob to run the team,” one source said. “Bob desperately does not want to run the team.”

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A Sixers source refutes the characterization of Harris’ desires as “desperate.”

The hallmark of Harris’ ownership has been his consistent mismanagement of his management. If he is to avoid another shambolic era, Myers will have to hire a capable, autonomous executive.

I have zero faith that Harris will allow the next president to operate with autonomy. Not after getting swept at home in the second round against the Knicks, who again took over Xfinity Mobile Arena.

No, Harris is going to want Myers to rebuild this latest shattered roster like it’s a ship in a bottle.

Let the shambles begin.

Myers in 2024 bought a $19 million home in Santa Monica, Calif., from whence, via videoconference and private jet, he supplies his expertise to Harris’ holdings. It would be impossible to administer, from his beach-view home office, the day-to-day machinations of an NBA team, such as deciding whether to play Joel Embiid on a back-to-back in Florida or which G League defensive liability to promote for a random Valentine’s Day afternoon game.

Myers realizes this, even if Harris doesn’t.

» READ MORE: Murphy: What Bob Myers didn’t say about Joel Embiid — and himself — spoke volumes

“If I do a good job, [the new president will have] a tremendous amount of autonomy. … What our fans are going to get is them, plus me. I won’t be on a day-to-day level,” Myers said — then added, somewhat contradictorily, “I imagine I’ll be communicating with that person five, if not seven, days a week.”

The last time we counted, seven days a week was a day-to-day level. Which leaves things about as clear as smog, and that’s just the sort of front office boondoggle typical of the Harris-era Sixers.

This has long been coming.

Harris has coveted Myers for years, but Myers was never available.

Morey was in Philadelphia by the time Myers resigned from the Warriors in 2023, but early in 2024, Harris hired Myers away from his analyst job at ESPN to advise Harris in reconfiguring his’ newest toy, the Washington Commanders, for which Harris serves as majority owner and managing partner.

Myers quickly did so — I can attest to that — and, in October 2025, Harris promoted Myers to president of Harris Blitzer Sports & Entertainment, the parent company that owns the Sixers, Devils,and, as a minority shareholder, Crystal Palace in the Premier League.

That job required less travel than what likely would be required in the new role, delivered superb pay, and demanded that Myers simply be kept abreast of the franchise’s major decisions. He also made efforts to join the team when it traveled west.

“Dream job,” said one NBA executive.

» READ MORE: Who is Bob Myers? Five things to know about HBSE’s president leading the search for Daryl Morey’s replacement

Wrangling with the Sixers’ constant swirl of entitled superstars and intrusive ownership in a merciless and cynical, East Coast city like Philadelphia?

Not a dream job.

In addition to dealing with the Sixers, Myers will be expected to continue to oversee the progress of the other franchises.

League sources confirmed that Myers has no plans to move his family. He has three young daughters. Which raises the question:

How involved will he ever really be? Including training camp and the playoffs, the Sixers could spend eight months together. Even with the primo Zoom Enterprise plan, can a de facto GM properly do the job 3,000 miles away?

The CEO of HBSE, Tad Brown, has the same responsibilities for the umbrella corporation, only on the business side, according to a team source. The big difference: Brown works out of the Sixers’ training facility in Camden, which is about 89 miles south of the Devils and 137 miles north of the Commanders, all on the same interstate.

It will be fascinating to see where the Sixers’ front office stands this time next year. Elton Brand is the current GM and a possible candidate to replace Morey. Brand and assistants Jameer Nelson, Ned Cohen, and Fan-Hal Koung continue to evaluate draft prospects, but none, according to team sources, has been evaluated by Myers. Everyone is auditioning.

At any rate, Myers surely will allow the new president to finalize their own staff.

It’s the sort of sound bite that haunts executives forever:

“All I can tell you is that I’m sweating it really hard. I’m sweating it just as hard and harder than it as any of the fans.”

That’s how Harris responded to a question about fans frustrated that the Sixers haven’t reached a conference final in 25 years.

As an absentee owner who, as a professional, has never lived or worked in Philly, it’s difficult for Harris to escape the perception that he sees the Sixers as little more than a private equity asset. The structure and decisions of his bizarre front-office staffs certainly make it seem like he doesn’t care.

In 2012, Harris let coach Doug Collins orchestrate the worst trade in Sixers history: four first-round players for Andrew Bynum, who never played a minute. In 2013 he hired Sam Hinkie to oversee a scorched-earth deconstruction strategy called The Process, which not only failed but brought about safeguards against copycats. In 2015, Harris hired esteemed executive Jerry Colangelo to clean up Hinkie’s mess, made only messier when Jerry Colangelo hired his son, Bryan, whose draft picks and Twitter fetish further demeaned the franchise.

» READ MORE: Hayes: The Sixers will never win anything in the era of Joel Embiid

After a year in flux in which Brand and former coach Brett Brown ran the team, Harris hired Morey, who inherited the holdout of Ben Simmons and created the holdout of James Harden before the past two seasons of relative stability but minimal success.

Myers claimed relative ignorance regarding the Sixers’ remaining front office, its roster, and coaching staff. This, however, probably is an understatement, since, as the season wound down, Myers more frequently visited the team, according to a league source. Another source cited a Philly pop-in by Myers against the Utah Jazz after a 40-point loss the night before to the San Antonio Spurs.

Whether Myers runs the team or not, the overarching truth about the Sixers remains as constant for next season as it has been for the previous 12 seasons:

If Embiid is fit and healthy, then the Sixers can contend.

If he’s not, then it won’t matter if Bob Myers, Daryl Morey, or Arnold Jacob “Red” Auerbach is running the team.