Former Celtics president of basketball operations Danny Ainge could move into a similar role with the Trail Blazers should Portland move on from Neil Olshey, speculated Howard Beck of Sports Illustrated, via RealGM.
Olshey is currently being investigated by the Blazers after accusations of workplace misconduct. The investigation is still in its early stages, so it’s still hard to know what the future holds for Olshey.
But Ainge, of course, would be a natural fit. A native of Oregon, he played for the Blazers during the 1990-91 season. He also was at the helm while the Celtics were an Eastern Conference contender.
Ainge stepped down from his role running the Celtics at the end of last season and was replaced by former coach Brad Stevens, hired by Ainge.
That said, Beck pointed out on the Crossover Podcast that there is no indication that Ainge has an interest in the Blazers’ director of basketball operations job, given that it has yet to become available.
The Blazers announced that they’ve hired an outside law firm, O’Melveny & Myers, to “conduct a full, fair and independent review” into reported “concerns about [the] workplace environment” allegedly created by Olshey.
Per Chris Haynes of Yahoo Sports, employees at the Blazers’ practice facility were interviewed, presumably about Olshey, earlier this month.
Olshey, 56, is in his 10th season overseeing basketball operations for the Trail Blazers. He attended both Friday’s game vs. the Pacers and Saturday’s game vs. the Lakers after the investigation was revealed, Haynes noted.
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