Breaking news this afternoon from Monumental Basketball: looks like the Wizards have their guy between Michael Winger and Travis Schlenk.
Per multiple reports, the Wizards are hiring current Oklahoma City Thunder VP of basketball operations Will Dawkins to be their No. 2 executive, below Monumental Basketball president Winger but above newly-hired VP of player personnel Schlenk.
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Per David Aldridge of The Athletic, Dawkins will be the GM, with “complete oversight of basketball operations,” while Schlenk, as VP of Player Personnel, will head evaluations on college and international players, an important role with the NBA Draft just three weeks away.
Dawkins, 37, has been one of the Thunder’s two VPs of Basketball Ops for the last three years, and has spent 15 total in the organization – so he is familiar with Winger, having worked with him from 2010-17 in OKC. He started as a video coordinator in 2009, was a scouting coordinator from 2010-12, and then moved up to director of college player personnel (2012-17) and VP of identification and intelligence (2017-20) before being named a VP of basketball ops in 2020.
His first task, beyond helping Schlenk with the Draft, will be helping decide the fates of the Wizards’ current “Big 3,” as both Kristaps Porzingis and Kyle Kuzma have player options for 2023-24 and Bradley Beal, who has a no-trade clause with three guaranteed seasons and one option year (and a little under $208 million if the option is picked up) left on his deal, is the subject of trade rumors as a possible full rebuild begins.
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