By Thomas Neumann The Golden State owner told the San Francisco Chronicle he thought he had a deal in place to purchase Oakland years ago. View the original article to see embedded media. The Athletics are struggling on the field and at the box office. Their 29–57 record entering Sunday’s games is the worst in MLB this season. So is their average home attendance of 8,559 fans per game. The team is wrestling to build a new ballpark in Oakland and is flirting with Las Vegas in case that plan fizzles. How might their fate be different if they had an owner such as Joe Lacob, who has enjoyed four c…